Homashinto no Tsuma
by FrancesIyaghume8
Summary: Homashinto no Tsuma is a town somewhere in Tokyo that contains that of eventful lives -a crossover of InuYasha and Ranma 1/2- Romance. Action. Drama. Adventure. Betrayal. Hate. Death. Suspense. Secrets. Comedy. A teenage soap drama.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** **I don't own the anime Ranma ½ or InuYasha; these anime series InuYasha belong to Rumiko Takahashi- it's all hers!! I don't own any of the characters Lady Takahashi created. That means I don't own Ranma, Akane, Ukyo, Shampoo, Nabiki, InuYasha, Kagome, Shippo, Miroku, Sango, Kikyo, blah, blah, blah… if you are truly fans of Takahashi's work then you should know the characters who she created. **

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**Life in Homashinto no Tsuma**

**Prologue:** **The Beginning**

_--_

_Ring…ring…ring… RING!_

"Mmurph…" She muffled within her sheets, trying to get as much as she possibly could before someone would come in and wake her up.

The sound of the alarm clock continued to ring as if it was nagging her to wake up. Her hand reached out of her sheets that she comfortably under to stop the alarm clock from ringing. The ringing had stopped.

Satisfied, the young seventeen smiled to herself and tried to continue her peaceful sleep as she re-wrapped herself with her blanket and curled herself up to make herself feel comfortable. Unfortunately, her sleep didn't last for long; she heard the squeak of her door open.

"Kagome?" She heard her mother call.

With her eyes still shut, Kagome frowned as she lifted the covers over her head, daring not to open her eyes, afraid that she would officially be awake.

"Tch, really Kagome Higurashi," her mother said with her hands on her hips as she bent over and then gently shook her daughter.

Kagome groaned as she turned to the other side of her bed, her face now facing the wall, "wake me up in five minutes…" she muffled in her pillow.

Her mother couldn't help but smile at her daughter who was half asleep as she shook her head and walked to Kagome's window to clear the curtain; sunlight poured into the room.

"…no…" Kagome groaned, "…no sunlight…"

"Kagome," her mother sighed, "how do you expect to get to school on time if you continue to sleep around all day?"

At that instant, Kagome shot her eyes wide open, _school! _She had forgotten that today was her first day of school and she was going to be late if she didn't move out of bed quick enough.

Kagome whipped the covers that she was under and dashed out of her new room.

Kagome's mother just say there on her daughter's bed as she chuckled lightly to herself and shook her head, "oh Kagome," she said.

Kagome continued to run down the hall of her house until she had come across the bathroom not noticing that her younger brother was going to use it. She gently but at the same time roughly pushed her little brother aside and practically slammed the door in his face.

Shocked, her brother banged the door three times, "hey, Kagome! What the heck?" _She pushed me aside like I was some insect… _he thought

"Sorry Sota," Kagome replied.

Sota frowned, that didn't sound sincere at all. It sounded more like 'I-Don't-Have-Time-For-This' apology. Not impressed, Sota knocked again.

"Kagome, this is unfair! I was going to use that washroom! Ugh!"

"But you're already dressed for school! Besides Sota, just use the other washroom, please?"

"I would, but my toothbru-,"

Kagome quickly but slightly opened the bathroom door and gave the toothbrush to her brother and then quickly closed the door. Before Sota knew it, he could already hear the shower running.

"Ugh, honestly Kagome-,"

"Come now Sota, you better finish up brushing your teeth so you can brush your hair and finish up getting ready for school." His mother called as she walked down the hallway and made her way down the stairs, "we don't want you to be late now either."

His mother was right; he didn't want to be late on his first day of school either. Sota decided to just swallow his pride and head his way downstairs to the other washroom; Kagome had won this battle.

After Kagome finished her shower, got dressed, brushed her hair and teeth, she grabbed her backpack and headed her way downstairs to the kitchen to grab something quick to eat.

When she reached to the kitchen, her family of three, not including herself, her mother, grandfather and her one and only brother, Sota were already in the kitchen. Her mother was washing the dishes. Sota was eating his cereal and her grandfather was reading the morning newspaper.

Her grandfather had noticed that Kagome had entered the room as he lowered his newspaper, "good morning Kagome,"

Kagome's mother turned, "oh, so good to see you already for school." She commented seeing Kagome out of her pajamas.

Sota lifted his head as he lowered his eyelids, "and it's nice to finally see you out of the washroom."

Kagome gave out a little bit of an aggravated sigh, "sorry I pushed you out of the way, happy?" she said lamely as she made her way to the kitchen cupboard trying to find something quick to eat. She settled for a granola bar and a glass from the second cupboard.

Sota knew that as least twenty-five percent of Kagome meant her apology but decided to drop it and finish up his cereal so he could start making his way to school.

Once Kagome grabbed a hole of her granola bar and her glass, she then went to the fridge to grab herself something to drink. She brought out a jar of orange juice and poured it into her glass and then drank her orange juice within a few sips.

"Aren't you going to have something to eat Kagome?" Her mother asked, drying the dishes.

"Mm," Kagome murmured shaking her head as she set the glass down on the counter, "no, I'm fine," she picked up her granola and lightly waved it, "I'm going to eat this on the way."

"Well, alright, but just don't forget about your lunch." Kagome's mother said as she picked up her daughter's and son's lunch.

"Thanks mom," Kagome said taking her lunch from her mother.

Mrs. Higurashi walked to the dining table and then placed Sota's lunch on the table so that he wouldn't forget his lunch either.

"Thanks mom," Sota said.

Kagome finished placing her lunch into her backpack and then put it on her back, ready to head to her new school. On her way out, she pet the head of the family house cat, Buyou that had been eating out of his dish.

"I'll see you all later. If there is any trouble at all, you have my cell phone number, bye!" Kagome said.

"Bye Kagome," her grandfather said.

"Have a great day at your new school," said her mother.

"Thanks I will, bye," Kagome said as she left the kitchen and started to make her way out of the door. The moment Kagome touched the handle of the door, she suddenly had an epiphany.

"_Have a great day at your new __**school**__!" _The message clicked into Kagome's head as her mother's voice echoed through her mind. Kagome froze.

Kagome stood there not realizing that her brother Sota was walking up to her. He had to start making his way to school too but it seemed that Kagome was in the way.

"Huh?" Sota lifted an eyebrow, "Kagome, you're still here?"

Kagome didn't respond.

Sota took a few steps closer and then stood infront of her, "Kagome?"

There was still no response.

"Uh oh…" Sota said as he waved his hand infront of Kagome's face- still nothing. "Mom, I think Kagome is broken!" he called out.

He saw his mother walking to where Kagome and he were, "Kagome is broken?" She asked confused when she finally reached them. She lightly touched her daughter's shoulder, "Kagome?"

Kagome took a couple steps back.

"Uh… cheer up Kagome," Sota said, unsure of what the problem was. "I'll see you later, bye," he said as he opened the door and walked out of the house.

"Have a nice day at your new school Sota." Mrs. Higurashi wished watching her son close the door behind him.

The word 'school' triggered into Kagome's mind again as she moaned and buried her face in her hands.

Kagome's mother rested her hand on Kagome's shoulder and then rubbed it to help relax Kagome a bit; it seemed to have worked a little.

"Do you want to talk about it dear?" Her mother asked.

"Mm-hm," Kagome nodded, her face still buried in her hands.

Kagome's mother smiled, "okay," she opened the door and led her daughter out the house as she soon followed her after and closed the door behind her.

Once they were outside, her mother then sat her down on the steps that would lead them to the house.

"Now then," her mother began.

Kagome sighed as she flashed her dark brown eyes. "It's just the whole concept of school… I'm like starting life all over again."

"I don't blame you for you feeling that Kagome," her mother replied as she pulled Kagome closer to her to provide more comfort and support for her daughter. "I know that it's going to be hard for you; moving into a new house, going to new school having to make new friends…"

"I don't know if I'll make friends or if I will fit in…"

"No one said moving into a new area would be easy. Starting a whole new life can be… scary. Kagome, you are a strong, smart, beautiful young woman. I have faith that you will fit in just fine at your new school. Believe in what I am saying and believe in yourself."

Leave it to Kagome's mother to say the right, encouraging things. Kagome looked up at her mother and smiled, as she got up from where she sat. "Thanks mom… I really needed that."

Her mother smiled back as she too got up herself. "You'll do just fine; just do your best… that's all we can ever ask, okay?"

"Okay mom," Kagome hugged her mother, "you're the best."

"Okay then, you best be on your way to school. You don't want to be late."

"Oh right," Kagome said as she hugged her mother one last time. She then started to make her way to school. "Bye mom!"

"Have a nice day Kagome."

"You too,"

--

Finally, after her ten-fifteen minute walk, Kagome had made it to her new school. "Furinkan high… I made it," she sighed in awe from the size of her new high school. "Wow," she breathed, "it seems so much bigger than I would have thought…" _bigger than my old school…_

From what she could tell, Kagome was going to like this school. The school itself was beautiful and she was still standing outside.

The front yard of the school was huge and beautiful. There were flowers (mainly red and blue) surrounding the school. There were certain spots for the students to hangout after or before school started. There were certain trees around the front of the school left and right. The scenery of the school, the school all together was like that of a university; only a little smaller than an average university and slightly larger than an average high school. Furinkan high must've at least contained 2,600 to 2,800 students.

There were students everywhere. Some where chilling out just infront of the school, others were walking in, some where walking out of the school, couples holding hands and there were groups of friends just walking and talking around the school.

Kagome wished she could take a quick detour around the school but realized that class was going to begin in ten minutes. If Kagome chose to give herself a tour around the school, there would be no doubt that she would get lost. _I better at least find my locker or my first period class before the bell rings… _she figured, walking into the school, brining out a sheet of paper that had the classroom door numbers and the number of her locker and her locker combination.

As she was making her way into the school, Kagome had sensed something strange. She had this awkward feeling as if people were staring and talking about her despite that they didn't even know her name or who she was to begin with. She was a new student after all. Even though they weren't saying her name, Kagome knew that they were talking about her.

"Woah, Kikyo has come back!" Kagome heard a male student say.

"Is that Kikyo?" One girl whispered pretty loudly to her friend.

"I don't know… she looks kinda different, no?" The girl's friend whispered back.

_Wha? Kikyo? Who's Kikyo? _Kagome thought, confused. She slightly blushed, feeling slightly uncomfortable. Kagome has never had so many eyes on her before; she frowned. _This is slowly starting to get annoying… _she continued to think seeing how the stares didn't subside nor did their murmurs of Kikyo coming back.

Kagome walked into the school and continued to walk down the hallway in hopes that she would either find her locker or her first period homeroom classroom. She would have probably preferred her locker than her first period class so she could hide her face. It hadn't even been ten minutes and yet people were already talking about her. She decided to just ignore her; hopefully they will realize that Kagome wasn't Kikyo whoever she was. Kagome had eventually reached to a door that lead her to another hallway.

When she was in the second hallway, she still got the same reaction from the students in the new hallway from before. Murmurs began to rise up in the hallway about the return of Kikyo. Kagome simply chose to ignore them.

_What's with these people? _Kagome fumed, _I thought I was going to like this school… _"I'm starting to have my doubts." She said looking left and right for her locker-she was getting no where. Kagome dug into her pocket and brought out the sheet of paper that had the class door numbers and the number of her locker. "Okay, locker twenty, eighty-six."

She looked up as she continued through the hallway looking left and right for her locker. _Nineteen ninety-two… nineteen ninety-six, nineteen ninety-seven… twenty five… I'm getting no where… this isn't even my range of numbers… _she thought as she passed each locker one by one. Kagome sighed as she looked up and around the hallway.

"Kikyo," another student gasped to his friends.

Kagome ignored them. She kept looking as she walked down the new hallway that she was in. She turned once more-her heart for some strange reason skipped a beat.

A boy; he didn't seem like your average boy. There was something about him who stood on the other side of the hall. His black hair was somewhat long, down past his shoulders. In a way, he seemed independent. He didn't seem to notice her until his ocean blue eyes met her dark brown eyes.

When their eyes met, everything went slow motion, for Kagome. From the look on his face, first reaction was shock and then anger as if he knew who Kagome was and that she made an act that was unforgivable. He stared at her as if she was a demon of some sort.

_What? _Kagome blinked from the boy's reaction. _What's his problem?_

Unfortunately Kagome wasn't exactly paying attention to where she was going nor to her surroundings she didn't even realized that the bell had rung. Her eyes were still locked onto the strange and yet rude boy that she had bumped into someone which caused the person to drop her books.

"Oh," Kagome said feeling bad as she quickly went to the floor, on her knees to help pick up the girl's books that were dropped.

The girl followed, "don't worry about it, I got it." She said trying to get her books back.

"No, I got it, it was my fault, I'm really sorry," Kagome apologized as she helped gather the text books, "I should really watch where I'm going." She straightened out the books and presented it to the girl. "Here, sorry about that," she said sheepishly. Kagome quickly took a glance to see if that strange boy was there-he was gone.

The girl blinked revealing her well applied purple eye shadow and then paused. She then stared as Kagome gave her the books, "…Kikyo…?" She asked peering closer.

"Huh?" Kagome blinked twice, the name clicked in, "Kikyo?" _That name again, _"I'm not Kikyo," she said as she got up and helped the girl up. "My name is Kagome, Kagome Higurashi."

The girl paused again, "Kagome," she repeated and then quickly apologized. "I'm sorry; I thought that you were someone else. You look so much like her."

_So do a lot of people…_

"I'm Sango Yamanuki," She said, gesturing a handshake.

Kagome shook her hand, "please to meet you. I'm sorry about earlier, I should really watch where I'm going."

Sango waved her hand and then tucked her dark brown hair behind her ear, "don't worry about it. I should be the one to watch where I'm going. I get in such a rush mode to get to get to class after the bell rings that I don't even watch out for my surroundings."

"Which reminds me-I should probably be making my way to class…" _Although I don't know where class is… let alone my locker… _she laughed nervously.

"Oh, do you need help finding your class? Furinkan high is a pretty big school…"

"But, won't you be late for your class?"

"What classes do you have?"

Kagome didn't respond right away as she brought out the sheet of paper she was holding and gave it to Sango, "my first period class is math."

"In classroom 214, with Mr.Yoshima, huh," Sango finished. She paused again and then smirked, "that's my first period class too."

Kagome's face lit up, "really?"

"Mm-hm and I think you have two other classes with me too. But we'll get to that later."  
Sango gave Kagome her sheet back. "Let's get to class before we're late."

With that, Sango started making her way to class; Kagome followed. As they walked to class, ignoring the quizzical glares that Kagome receiving to her newly peers, Kagome couldn't help but wonder; who was the rude but strange boy and what really was his problem? Who was Kikyo? Was she going to like it here in Furinkan high? Was she going like living in Homashinto no Tsuma? Who knows? One thing for certain, this was not going to be a perfect, average school year for Kagome Higurashi or for anyone. If anything, this was going to be a start of a very interesting school year.

--

**End Chapter.**

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	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:** **I don't own the anime Ranma ½ or InuYasha; these anime series InuYasha belong to Rumiko Takahashi- it's all hers!! I don't own any of the characters Lady Takahashi created. That means I don't own Ranma, Akane, Ukyo, Shampoo, Nabiki, InuYasha, Kagome, Shippo, Miroku, Sango, Kikyo, blah, blah, blah… if you are truly fans of Takahashi's work then you should know the characters who she created. **

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**Life in Homashinto no Tsuma**

**Chapter 1:**** The Return of Kikyo? Part 1**

_--_--

"Room 214," Sango announced once both Kagome and her reached their first period class.

The second school bell ran, signaling that all students were to be in their first period class. A few students who were straggling to class before the second bell rang were now picking up their paces so that they wouldn't be too late to class.

"It seems as if we made it on time," Kagome stated, watching the stragglers quickly get to their class.

Sango couldn't help but chuck a little at the stragglers quickly getting to their classes as she opened the door of their classroom. "They kinda remind you of ants, don't they?" Sango and Kagome walked in.

When Kagome and Sango were in the class, all students, all twenty-two students of them lifted their heads; all eyes on Kagome including the teacher.

_Oh no… _Kagome thought, starting to feel small already knowing what was going to happen.

Within seconds, whispers were now filling the classroom; whispers about the 'return' of Kikyo. Kagome wished she just came to school with a paper bag over her head.

"Ahem," the older male with grey hairs coming in who appeared to be the teacher cleared his throat. "It appears that we have a visitor," he said adjusting his glasses.

"Kikyo!" One of the students whispered loudly, "she has come back," they continued.

"A new student actually, Mr.Yoshima," Sango confirmed with one hand on Kagome's shoulder, ignoring the classroom murmurs.

Mr.Yoshima raised an eyebrow, "really, a new student?"

"Kagome Higurashi," she said a little loudly so that the class would get the hint that she wasn't Kikyo.

"Kagome Higurashi," Mr.Yoshima repeated. He smiled, "I'm Mr.Yoshima, your math teacher," he introduced.

Mr.Yoshima then walked over to his desk to bring out the attendance to see if her name was on the attendance sheet. "Let's see…" he said picked up a pencil on his desk. He looked up at Kagome and then Sango. "Sango, please show our new student to her desk," he asked.

"Yes," Sango replied.

"Thank you," Mr.Yoshima looked back down at the attendance sheet beginning to list down the students names, "Now then…Tenuchi Adene…"

Sango turned to Kagome, "you can sit close to Akane and me."

_Akane, who's that? _Kagome wondered looking at the classroom, mainly the girls-anyone of them could be Akane.

"Come on," Sango said to Kagome so that she could follow her to their desks.

Kagome followed Sango, trying her best to ignore the stares from her new fellow classmates.

"She looks so much like Kikyo," Kagome heard one of the students say.

"They could come off as sisters," said another student said.

"Hey Sango," Kagome then heard a girl call. She had tomboyish haircut black with large darkish brown eyes.

_She must be Akane… _Kagome figured.

Sango found her seat somewhat in the middle of the classroom, dropped her backpack and sat down in her desk. "Hi Akane," she said. She looked up at Kagome, "you can sit in the desk right beside me," she said.

Kagome looked at the desk that seemed like it was reserved just for her. She then looked at Sango and smiled, "thanks," she said as she walked to her desk and dropped her bag.

Sango smiled, "Kagome, this is Akane Tendo. Akane, this is Kagome Higurashi."

"Nice to meet you," Kagome said with a smile as she sat down in her seat.

"Nice to meet you too," Akane said, smiling back. She paused, "I could have sworn that you were Kikyo the moment you walked in the class with Sango. You look almost identical to her."

"That's what I thought when I bumped into her before class started," Sango said with a little giggle.

Kagome smiled a little, brining out her binders and pencil case and one of her pencils. "It hasn't even been a full hour of school and yet, and I know people are already talking about me because I resemble this… Kikyo person…" she looked up at both Sango and Akane. "Tell me, who is or was this, Kikyo?"

Akane was about to open her mouth but Mr.Yoshima cut in, "ah yes, Kagome Higurashi," he said marking something on the attendance sheet. He continued, "Boe Hinashi… here………Akane Tendo……………and Sango Yamanuki, here. Okay, now that that is settled, we may begin our lesson for today."

Sango leaned over to Kagome, "we'll talk that later."

"It's a long story," Akane added.

"What class do you have after this one?" Sango asked.

Kagome dug into her pocket to bring out her schedule, "um, I think I have chemistry next, room 228, Mrs. Zie."

"Oh," Akane said sounding a little bit disappointed. It seemed that Akane wanted to get to know Kagome a little bit more.

Kagome seemed a bit disappointed too. It seemed as if Sango didn't have the same class as her either.

"Well, we can meet up at lunch time in the main lobby, the front of school," Sango suggested as she dug into her backpack for something.

It seemed Akane was ahead of her. "Do you have a cell phone?" Akane asked still whispering.

"Uh, yeah," Kagome said bringing out her cell phone that was in her backpack.

"Here," Sango said giving her cell phone to Kagome once she had finally found it. "Put your number on it so that we contact you whenever we can."

"Mainly when lunch begins so we can find you; Furinkan high is a large school; one can easily get lost," Akane said giving her phone to Kagome.

"That's for sure, like Ryoga who always manages to get lost," Sango said teasingly.

_Ryoga? _Kagome wondered.

"Sango," Akane giggled.

"It's true; he's got a bad sense of direction. But we love him all the same." Sango responded, "Just wait, Ryoga will grow on ya," she told Kagome.

Akane giggle a bit more, "here Kagome, be sure to put your number on my cell phone too." She said passing her cell phone to Sango to give to Kagome.

Kagome gave back Sango's phone once she was done adding her number on it and then gave Sango her phone so that she could add her own number on Kagome's phone.

"Pass it onto Akane when you're done," Kagome said.

"The three ladies; Sango, Akane and Kagome, come on now." Mr.Yoshima began. The students all turned to face the three girls who disrupted the class. Mr.Yoshima adjusted his glasses, "you know the rules, no cell phones in the school. Put them away and don't let me catch you with those cell phones again. Next time I seem them, they'll be mine, understood?"

"Yes Mr.Yoshima," Akane and Sango said in unison.

"We're sorry…" Kagome apologized.

"That's alright girls, just don't do it again, put the phones away." Mr.Yoshima said.

Kagome, Sango and Akane put the cell phones away.

"Thank you, now, as I was saying, you carry the eight…" Mr.Yoshima continued on with his lesson.

Akane leaned over to Sango, "something tells me that this is going to be a long lesson…" she whispered.

Sango nodded, "yeah, enough to take up the whole class period," Sango whispered back. She leaned over to Kagome, "Hey Kagome, we'll talk later during lunch, okay?"

"Sure," Kagome replied, smiling to herself.

Despite all the annoying gossip about her being Kikyo, Kagome somehow managed to find and form friends with really cool people. Although she didn't know them quite well, she knew that they were cool people.

"Just wait 'till Jin hears about Kikyo's twin!" Kagome heard a female student whispered to one of her friends.

Kagome lowered her eyelids with annoyance, _this whole thing about me being Kikyo better subside, fast!_

It was nine fifty, first period class was over and all students were to move onto their second period class which was to begin in five minutes.

All students were leaving their first period classes. The school halls within seconds were now flooded with students who were either trying to find their friends or start heading to their second period classes before the second bell rang.

As Kagome, Akane and Sango walked out of their class and started heading to their next period class along with other students in the school, gossip about the return of Kikyo began to rise up again in the halls from mainly their classmates.

"I wonder if InuYasha knows that Kikyo's twin goes to our?" One classmate said.

"He'll probably find out soon enough." The other classmate responded.

Kagome rolled her eyes in unison with her sigh. She was getting annoyed with her newly classmates, "do I seriously have to announce it over a PA system that I'm not Kikyo?" She said. "Do I also have to announce it to the world that I'm not related to her either?"

Sango placed on hand on Kagome's shoulder to help calm her down. "Give it time," she said.

"You know what they say about rumors Kagome," Akane began, "they last seventy-five days… only seventy-four days to go."

Kagome moaned, "It hasn't even been half a day and I'm already ready to go home. I mean, it's not that these rumors about me being Kikyo are… _horrible, _it's just, annoying."

"I'd give it a week," Sango encouraged.

"A week, or at least until a bigger thing besides you looking like Kikyo comes along." Akane said to Kagome.

Sango looked doubtful, "something tells me that that's not going to happen anytime soon."

Akane looked at Kagome sympathetically. "Sorry Kagome," she shrugged. "Having you look like Kikyo is really up there."

"Which is what I don't understand!" Kagome said throwing her arms up, "who was Kikyo? She must've made such an impact on the whole school to have everyone talk about her because I resemble her." She looked at both Akane and Sango.

"Like we said before in math class Kagome…" Akane began.

"It's a pretty long story. We'll explain it all in lunch." Sango finished.

"With Ayame," Akane added.

"Yes,"

"Ayame?" Kagome wondered.

"A friend of ours who you'll meet at lunch," Akane replied.

"But as if now, we should get to class," Sango figured, "class is to begin real soon."

The three girls along with other students that somewhat filled the school halls continued to walk to class until they came across a door that lead to a stair way. That was where Sango had to depart to head to her own class.

"Okay guys," Sango sighed, "I have to take the stairs down to my travel 'n' tourism class. I'll see you guys at lunch, bye."

"Bye," Kagome and Akane said in unison.

"Wait, we'll all meet up at the front-lobby right?" Sango asked.

"Yeah, for sure," Akane confirmed.

"Alright then," Sango waved, "I'll see you later, bye,"

"See you at lunch," Akane said.

With that, Sango went through the doors that lead to a stair way so that she could go downstairs to her second period class; and then there were two.

Akane looked at Kagome; Kagome looked at Akane. Akane smiled.

"Come on, I'll walk you to class," Akane said to Kagome.

Kagome cocked her head to the side feeling grateful to Akane's kindness. "Akane, you don't have to walk me to class, really."

"Sure I do,"

Kagome was going to say something but was quickly cut off.

"Come on," Akane said, "don't worry about me; my class is along the same rout as yours anyway."

So Akane and Kagome walked along the school halls until Kagome had reached her second period chemistry class. She said her goodbyes to Akane and reminded each other to meet at the front lobby of school at lunch. After that, Akane had then continued quickly to her second period class- history class.

"Alone once again facing a new class…" Kagome said out loud to herself. She stared at the wooden door infront of her that had her room number bolded in white. "I wonder how this class would treat me. No doubt they'll believe that I'm Kikyo."

Kagome stalled no longer. Before the second bell rang, to signal that second period had begun, Kagome sucked her breath, opened the door and walked in.

When she was in the science lab classroom, just like from the beginning of first period all students in the classroom including the teacher's eyes were all on Kagome again. Kagome just lowered her eyelids; she already knew what was going to happen next. The murmurs about Kagome being Kikyo had rose again.

"Woah, could that be…?"

"Kikyo has come back?"

"Say it ain't so!"

Kagome felt her eyebrow twitch with annoyance, "it ain't so!" she told on of the male students.

One of the students looked appalled with Kagome's shot back, annoyed response. Some students in the class chuckled at the appalled student.

A young middle aged woman with her hair tied in a tight bun wearing an extreme thick rimmed glasses, wearing a lab coat, walked to up to Kagome, holding a what looked to be the attendance sheet with a pencil.

Murmurs rose up in the class again.

The middle aged woman frowned also annoyed with the now loud classroom as she shushed them, "settle down class…" she said. She waited for her classroom to lower their murmurs as she brought out her pencil. "Name please," she asked Kagome.

Kagome didn't realize that the woman was talking to her as she ignored the lowered murmurs and stated her name. "Uh… Kagome, Kagome Higurashi."

This teacher seemed strict as she went down the attendance list. Her hair was tide so tightly that one could bounce a quarter off her head Kagome figured. The teacher continued to mark something on the attendance sheet and then tapped the pencil on her lip. She then looked up at Kagome and grinned.

"Mrs.Zie; your chemistry teacher. Pick a free desk anywhere in the classroom so I can teach this quick lesson and then we can get to work."

Kagome gave a nervous smile at her seemingly strict but somewhat of a nice teacher. There was something about Mrs.Zie; she was the kind of teacher who would either a really nice side of a really mean side. Cross her once, she'll give you a detention for a week without hesitation-especially if she was having a bad day.

_And she's probably the type to creatively punish her students as well… _Kagome added. She turned and faced her class to find one of the most available spots in the class. She settled for one spot that was almost near the front of the class. There she sat with three girls who look like they've been best friends for years. Kagome tried not to give any of students' eye contact.

All eyes in the classroom exclude Mrs. Zie were still on Kagome. The whispers of Kagome looking like Kikyo continued.

"Wow," one of the girls with wavy hair down to her shoulders on Kagome's left awed. "Even up close she looks so much like Kikyo." She whispered pretty loudly to her friends.

Kagome sighed heavily with annoyance as she tried her best to copy down the notes that Mrs.Zie was writing on the board.

It seemed that one of the three girls sensed Kagome's annoyance. The girl who had her hair down to her shoulders as well with a yellow headband gently jabbed the wavy haired girl.

"Ayumi," The headband girl hissed.

"Mind keeping the whispers down?" The second girl with real short hair asked Ayumi a little harshly as she was copying the notes from the blackboard.

Ayumi looked like she felt bad for her loud whisper although almost every other student was doing it in the class. Maybe she was just too loud. She looked up at Kagome.

"Sorry," Ayumi apologized in a whispered.

Kagome looked back at Ayumi. She twirled pencil, "it's okay, I've been getting it a lot all day," her voice was also low.

"Not surprised, you do look a lot like Kikyo. At first I thought you were her."

"Everybody still thinks I am Kikyo or believes that I'm related to her. It's been really annoying." Kagome said as she turned to one of the male students who were staring at her long and hard.

Kagome growled, "Would you people give it a rest already? Quit staring! I'm not Kikyo!" Kagome angrily told the boys and mainly the rest of the classroom.

"Kagome," Mrs.Zie called out, "do you need to be sent out to the hallway?"

"No Mrs.Zie," Kagome said.

"Then I don't want to hear anymore out bursts from you again, understand?"

Kagome angrily but sheepishly nodded her head as she lowered her head from embarrassment.

Mrs.Zie smiled in such a fake manner, "good." She had then placed her chalk down. It had seemed that her brief lesson had ended for now. Mrs.Zie walked to her desk and brought out a stack of papers and distributed it to the class. "Okay, class so now we are going to work this worksheet for twenty minutes on the chemical laws, take it up together as a class and then continue on the second part of the lesson."

Kagome turned to Ayumi. "See what I mean?" she whispered harshly. "Because these students are… upsetting to the core that Mrs.Zie already doesn't like me. If I hear one more gossip about me being this Kikyo girl, I'll… I'll…"

"Don't sweat it," the girl with short hair tried to reassure Kagome.

Kagome pulled a confused look at the girl with short hair.

"I'm Yuka," she introduced.

The girl with the yellow headband looked up at Kagome, "I'm Eri,"

Kagome brought on what would seem like an unsure nervous smile-trying her best not to show her irritation with the class, "nice to meet you all."

"You too," Eri replied.

"Anyway, like I said Kagome, don't sweat it." Yuka said.

Kagome looked confused again. _Huh_? "What are you talking about? What do you mean by that?"

"About you looking like Kikyo," Yuka corresponded.

Kagome blinked, "I still don't…"

"What she means is that you shouldn't be too frustrated about you looking so much like Kikyo." Eri tried to clarify.

Ayumi giggled, "It's not worth the stress, believe me," she said to Kagome.

"Besides," Yuka began, "do you even know who Kikyo was?"

Kagome shook her head. "I wish I knew… she sounds like some kind of legend the way students say her name."

"In away, I guess you could say that Kikyo was some kind of legend." Eri said, twirling her pencil.

"So then tell me," Kagome leaned closer, "who was she?"

All three Ayumi, Yuka and Eri didn't all immediately respond to Kagome's question right away. Kagome could already tell that this was going to be a long story.

"Well to be perfectly honest…" Eri began.

"We didn't really know her all that well…" Yuka finished.

"…you can't be serious…"

"Well we can't give you the _details_, the biography of her life." Yuka tried to explain. "She wasn't exactly in every single class we had."

"And she wasn't exactly our best friend either," Eri added.

"So you know absolutely nothing about Kikyo?" Kagome said feeling doubt that all her questions won't be answered.

"I wouldn't say that," Ayumi began. "She was in history class after all before she left."

"What was she like in that class Ayumi?" Kagome asked.

She was such a smart student in that class. Kikyo knew everything from World War II to… she knew a lot in that class." Ayumi replied.

"That's right," Eri remembered, "she had received honors every year of high school."

"She probably received honors back in Jr. High too." Yuka added.

"We didn't go to the same middle school as Kikyo," Ayumi explained.

"Huh," Kagome rested her cheek on her palm. "So we know that she was an incredibly brilliant student."

"No mistake about it," Eri said,

"Well then whats the big deal? If that's was what all Kikyo was then why are students making such a big deal of, quote on quote 'Kikyo's return?" She desperately looked the Eri, Yuka and Ayumi. "Come on, there must've been something more about Kikyo than her brains."

Yuka, Eri and Ayumi all looked back Kagome and blinked.

"…well?" Kagome pressed.

"Well, she was pretty, elegant?" Ayumi shrugged.

"She was talented too-she was the greatest archer in gym class." Yuka added.

"She also had a lot of self confidence in herself." Eri said.

Yuka nodded, "yeah, that's for sure. Kikyo showed no weakness."

All Kagome pictured in her mind was a beautiful priestess warrior in the feudal era who resembled herself facing and killing off demons; she Kagome quickly then shook of the thought in her mind. "Anything else?"

Yuka raised an eyebrow, "like?"

Kagome shrugged her shoulders. She didn't know what else she wanted to learn about Kikyo; there was so much Kagome wanted to know-her mind suddenly went blank.

It was now quiet at the science table. The girls didn't know exactly wha else to say about Kikyo. Ayumi decided to break the silence as she cleaner her throat and twirled her pen.

"Um, we should probably start working on these sheets before Mrs.Zie gives us intense homework for slacking." Ayumi said.

"Yeah, good idea," Eri said.

"That's enough talk about Kikyo for one day," Yuka agreed looking at Kagome for support and a response. Ayumi and Eri looked at Kagome soon after.

Kagome gave a small weak smile to her new considered friends. "Yeah, I guess you're right. We should start working on our worksheets. We've got like ten minutes to finish up before we take it up."

Yuka, Ayumi and Eri gave a small smile to Kagome as they all looked down on their worksheets and all began to work on them. Kagome began to work soon after.

As Kagome tried to work on her worksheet, she couldn't concentrate. Kagome's mind kept swirling around her-Kikyo. She began to tap her pencil as she her mind wondered, _Seems to me that Kikyo had what most other teenage girls wanted. She was beautiful, popular, talented and smart… so what happened to her?  
_

--

**End Chapter.**

--


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer:** **I don't own the anime Ranma ½ or InuYasha; these anime series InuYasha belong to Rumiko Takahashi- it's all hers!! I don't own any of the characters Lady Takahashi created. That means I don't own Ranma, Akane, Ukyo, Shampoo, Nabiki, InuYasha, Kagome, Shippo, Miroku, Sango, Kikyo, blah, blah, blah… if you are truly fans of Takahashi's work then you should know the characters who she created. **

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***Life in Homashinto no Tsuma***

***Chapter 2:**** The Return of Kikyo? Part 2**

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After the remaining thirty minutes of Kagome's chemistry class, the first school bell rang signaling that second period was now over and third period was to begin. This meant for some students, it was lunch time for them. For others, it meant that they were to go to their next period class and hope that their lunch period would come sooner.

As Kagome walked out of her classroom with Ayumi, Eri and Yuka (ignoring the annoying murmurs of her resembling Kikyo this time around) she felt her cell phone vibrate. She already knew or had a feeling that it was a text message as she dug into her pocket to bring out her cell phone.

"So Kagome, what class do you have now?" Eri asked.

"Uh… oh, I have lunch now, unless you consider lunch a… class?" Kagome replied with a light chuckle.

Yuka smirked, "lucky you."

"We don't have lunch until fourth period." Ayumi explained to Kagome.

"Huh," Kagome said sinking in the information.

"So I guess that we should be heading to our third period class then." Eri said.

"And I guess I should head to the front lobby of the school," Kagome smiled a she waved, "I guess I'll see you guys later. It was nice meeting you guys, bye."

"It was nice meeting you too, Kagome." Yuka said.

Kagome agreed with a nod, the feeling was definitely was mutual, "later," she said waving as she started walking down the hallway.

"We'll see you later," Ayumi said.

Eri gave a small wave, "bye Kagome."

"Bye," Kagome replied.

The girls had now separated trying to get to their own small destination. Kagome was on her own once again as se brought out her cell phone and flipped it open to see who text her.

"Boy you are slow at replying to my text messages Kagome." A familiar female voice called out.

Kagome turned to see who called out to her. It was no other than Akane Tendo walking down the hallway with a boy walking behind her who had a short braided ponytail with his hands behind his head. It seemed like they just had the same class together.

"Who are you talking to Akane?" The boy asked who obviously didn't notice Kagome standing in the other hallway.

Akane frowned, looking up at the boy. "Don't be stupid Ranma, I'm obviously talking to me friend Ka-,"

"Kikyo?" Ranma blinked once they reached Kagome.

Kagome heaved a heavy sigh at Ranma, already annoyed with Ranma's assumption, "…I'm not Kikyo…" she responded.

"Actually Ranma," Akane put her arm around Kagome, "this is Kagome Higurashi." She turned to Kagome. "Kagome, this is Ranma. Ranma Saotome."

Ranma didn't say anything as he continued to stare.

Akane rolled her eyes in unison with her sigh. "Why don't you take a picture? It'll last longer." She paused. "You don't have to stare so hard you know." Akane looked at Kagome, "sorry."

Ranma didn't reply to Akane's comment as he leaned closer to Kagome as if he was going to kiss her.

Feeling uncomfortable, Kagome moved back a little, Akane frowned. "W-what are you?" Kagome asked blushing.

At that instant, Ranma felt a sharp painful smack on the cheek by Akane's hand-SMACK! "Ow! What did you do that for?"

"Pervert!" Akane called him. "It hasn't even been five minutes and you're already ready to pounce on her like some kind of animal!"

His eyelids lowered, annoyed with Akane's comment as he rubbed his check to soothe the pain. "I'd really wish you would stop calling me that. I was trying to get a better look at her."

Ranma gave Kagome on last look and then moved back and folded his arms, the smack still on his face. "So you really aren't Kikyo." He dug his hands into his pocket. "So I bet you've been hearing people talking about you-thinking that you resemble her."

"I've been hearing it in and out." Kagome replied as her brow wrinkled a little, "It's been bugging me all day."

There was a bit of a pause as the school bell rang, stragglers had quickened their pace to get to where they need to be.

The pigtailed boy simply just shrugged his shoulders, "well what can you do?" he said putting his hands behind his head and started to walk on ahead. "I'd better get going and meet up with the guys. I'll see you later Akane, nice meeting you Kagome."

"Wait a second Ranma," Akane said.

Ranma turned to Akane and winked, "see ya!" Within moments, Ranma Saotome was already out of sight down the hallway.

"He's quite the character, isn't he?" Kagome asked her body turned to Akane.

Akane frowned as she sighed heavily and crossed her arms. "You don't even know the half of it." She had a feeling on what Ranma was going to do but decided to drop it, for now. Akane just simply shook her head. "That Ranma…"

Kagome suddenly had an epiphany. "We should probably head to the main front of the school, to meet up with Sango."

"And Ayame,"

"Yeah, her too," Kagome said still unsure on who she was.

Akane started walking, "come on."

Kagome soon followed after. They both continued to walk through the school hallways, down the stairs and out through the last hallway which lead them to the front of the school where they saw Sango standing there with a girl with long reddish dark brown hair with bright green eyes.

From what it seemed, Sango sensed Akane's and Kagome's gaze as they were both walking up to her. "There you are," Sango sighed.

"What took you?" The girl with dirty reddish dark brown hair asked Akane, not noticing Kagome right away. "Was it that fiancée of yours?" she teased.

Akane's face turned red from embarrassment, "Ayame!" she practically barked.

"What? It's true!" Ayame said defensively, "whole school knows about it. There is nothing to hide."

Sango smiled a little, "she's got a point Akane. Ranma _is _your fiancée. Your parents made it official."

"I'm very well aware of that guys! Knock it off will ya?" Akane begged her face still red.

Kagome's eyes shot wide as she felt a huge sweat drop going down the back of her head. "Fi-fiancée…?" she turned to Akane, "…y-your engaged?"

Ayame's green eyes shifted from Akane to Kagome. "Hm?" she wondered now focused on Kagome.

Sango noticed Ayame's gaze as she followed it an ended up looking at Kagome. "Oh, Kagome," Sango said, "I almost forgot about you." She smiled.

Kagome chuckled lightly.

"So _this _is Kagome," Ayame smiled. "The one who resembles Kikyo," she looked closer. "You _do _resemble her, you could've fooled me." She placed her hands on her hips. "I'm Ayame."

Kagome smiled back at her, she already knew that she was going to like Ayame, "nice to meet you."

"Mh-hm," Ayame nodded.

"So Akane," Kagome asked turning back to her, trying to get back on the topic from before. "Are you really engaged to Ranma? You guys are so young!"

"It's a _really _long story, believe me." Akane sighed still a little embarrassed hoping that the conversation would change.

"Speaking of long stories," Sango began, "I recall you wanting to learn about Kikyo, is that right?" She asked Kagome.

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot about that," Kagome replied.

"Well what are we waiting for?" Akane asked with a shrug, "we should start heading for the cafeteria before the line-up at the store gets _long _and _intense._"

"Yeah, that's for sure; I'm_ starving_." Ayame emphasized.

"Then what _are_ waiting for?" Sango said.

"Nothing, let's eat!" Akane said.

Sango, Akane, Ayame and Kagome at that moment, were all heading to the cafeteria to buy their lunch (except Kagome who already had her lunch). After they had gotten their lunch, the four girls headed outside through the cafeteria doors to the outdoor cafeteria to find a spot to sit.

Kagome was in awe from the size of the inside and outside of the cafeteria. The inside of the cafeteria was the size of a football field and the outside cafeteria was the size of two and a half tennis courts.

"We can sit over there," Ayame pointed out to a table for six farthest from the cafeteria doors.

"Good eye Ayame," Sango commented, "let's go sit."

As the four girls made their way to the spot that Ayame pointed out, students who were either eating their lunch, chatting with their friends, chilling with their friends or just plain doing their homework, practically stopped what they were doing and all stared at Kagome. Within seconds, students were starting to talk about Kagome being Kikyo.

Kagome groaned as she felt herself getting tense. "Can't they seriously give it a rest already?" she said as she slammed her lunch on the table once they had reached their table. She then plopped on the wooden seen and began to open her brown paper lunch bag and brought out a sandwich.

"Been getting that all day, huh?" Ayame asked as she sat down across from Kagome. Akane sat down beside Ayame and Sango sat down before Kagome.

Kagome moaned, "Do you really have to ask?"

"Like I said Kagome, you should give it a week, two weeks tops." Sango advised.

"Sango's right, you should give it time. This whole concept of you looking so identical to Kikyo _will _take time for it to die down… eventually." Akane said taking a small bite from her rice ball.

"Well if I'm going to wait _forever _for this whole Kikyo business to die down, the least you guys can do is help me learn more about Kikyo." Kagome said.

Kagome looked up at her friends. Her eyes soon shifted to who had short mushroom cut with huge glasses walk by the girls table. His eyes were completely locked on Kagome that he wasn't paying any attention to his surroundings that he crashed into a pole and all his food was sent flying up in the air and all landed on his head and clothes. Most students who saw that began to point and laugh. Embarrassed, the boy got up, brushed off most of the sticky food that landed on him and quickly walked into the inside of the cafeteria.

Kagome just sighed after witnessing such a performance. "I don't know how much more I can take."

"Not going to lie, having people stare at you and talk about you can be pretty annoying." Sango said.

"Tell me about it."

"So what is it that you want to know about Kikyo?" Ayame asking holding her can of coke, ready to take another sip.

"_Everything, _I've come to learn that this Kikyo was smart, pretty, popular and talented." Kagome paused. "But there seems to be so much more too that about here, isn't there?"

"Yeah, there is," Akane nodded.

Kagome took a bite of her sandwich before she spoke again. She then looked at all three girls so that she was positive that she had their undivided attention. "So there is one thing that seems to bother me. Every time I walk into a new area at school, all eyes are on me and people to whisper 'the return of Kikyo.' She paused again. "So… what happened to Kikyo? Where did she go?"

"Oh boy," Akane said looking at Sango, "where to begin with that story?"

"Do you guys know what happened to her and _why _she left?" Kagome asked.

"Hmm… well, I guess you can say that it all started with her boyfriend." Sango said looking at Ayame and Akane for support.

"Well this is new. Kikyo had a boyfriend?" Kagome asked.

Ayame nodded, "she sure did."

Kagome blinked, "…who…?"

-----

Ranma Saotome was walking-no, running lightly up and down the hallways in search to find his friends. He continued to walk blindly down the school halls, hoping that when he took the next turn, they would be there- no such luck.

"Man, where could they be?" He wondered as he stopped in his tracks and just stood there. Ranma then remembered something. "Oh yeah," he snapped his fingers, "How can I be so dense?"

"Nihao Ranma!"

Ranma at that instant, recognized the high broken Japanese voice as he turn and saw a Chinese girl with large dark blue eyes and long navy blue hair running up to him ready to give the biggest hug Ranma has ever received.

"Sh-Shampoo," Ranma stammered. Before he knew it, Shampoo was already hugging him, her body pressed up against his. She giggled as she nuzzled his broad muscular chest. Her eyes sparkled as she smiled brightly.

"Nihao Ranma," she repeated, still holding onto him.

"Shampoo, what are you doing?!" Ranma said his face turning bright red.

Shampoo stepped back from Ranma and looked up at him. She stepped back and dropped her tiny red backpack and brought out a container on what seemed like noodles; to be specific, ramen.

"Shampoo knew you had lunch right now today. So Shampoo decided to pack you lunch." She said presenting the contained ramen to him.

"Uh, Shampoo," Ranma began gently pushing the ramen out of his face. "Shouldn't you be eating lunch with Moose… your _boyfriend_?"

"Shampoo and Moose broke up."

"You wha? That fast? But it hasn't even been _two _days."

She simply shook her head, "Shampoo realized that Moose is not meant for Shampoo. Only Ranma is meant for Shampoo." She looked up at Ranma, "someday, Ranma realize that Akane is not meant for him either. Instead, Ranma will realize that _Shampoo_ is meant for Ranma. Is true yes?"

Ranma could feel himself slightly blush, "wha-what?"

"You heard Shampoo."

"Listen Shampoo, I haven't got time for this, I've gotta go somewhere."

Shampoo didn't move from where she stood. "Where too? To meet up with Akane?"

"Psh," Ranma looked away, "get serious. I have _important _things to do, like meet up with the guys."

"Ah, if that case," Shampoo presented the contained ramen to Ranma's face again. "You promise to eat Shampoo's ramen? I make it especially for future husband."

Ranma rolled his eyes and sighed as he took the bowl of ramen from Shampoo's hands, "alright, I'll eat your ramen." He was about to walk around Shampoo until she took a side step and ended up infront of him again.

"_Aaaand_ you promise to take Shampoo out on date?"

Ranma sighed. He then backed from Shampoo, distancing himself from her. Within moments, Ranma ran a head sprint, it seemed that he was going to run over Shampoo but then at the last second, he jumped up and did a back flip over the Chinese girl's head, landed and then started running. "Sorry Shampoo but I really don't have time for this I'll see you around!"

"Ranma," Shampoo called out, "you come back here right this instant!"

It's a good thing that Ranma dedicated most of his life to martial arts; otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to pull that stunt off. _Geez, if Akane saw that, who knows what she could've done, _he thought as he pictured the face of an angry Akane. Ranma quickly shook off the thought. "Man, poor Moose, he must be off somewhere licking his wounds." He continued to run down the halls until he came across doors that lead him to the stairs. He pushed the doors open and then jogged lightly down the stairs. "I shouldn't have to worry about Moose now; I've got other things on my mind right now."

An image of Kagome came to his mind, running out the school doors and ran to the back of the school. This was quite the workout for Ranma Saotome as he ran across the football field, dodging almost every single student that could've possibly been in his way. Finally, after Ranma ran up a small hill, he made it to the bleachers where he figured where he would find his friends. There they were, just sitting there minding their own business.

"Oh good," Ranma panted, "I've finally found you," he walked up to his three friends.

"You know you sounded just like Ryoga when you said that, Ranma," said the boy with dark crystal blue eyes who had a short, tiny ponytail and wore small gold hoop earrings in one ear.

"Hey," said the other boy who wore a yellow head bandana with black random stripes, "I resent that Miroku."

"He's right Ryoga," said the boy with long black hair down past his shoulders, "But I don't want to get into a conversation about your sense of direction."

Ryoga was about to say something in defense but chose to let it go, "whatever."

The boy with long black hair's dark blue eyes shifted from Ryoga to Ranma. "So," he began, "you wanna tell us what took you so damn long?"

"I was looking for you guys-you in particular, InuYasha." He replied.

InuYasha frowned as he raised an eyebrow, "why?" he asked rudely.

Ranma causally dug his hands into his pocket as he rocked forward and back. "Well, there is something that I need to tell you," he began as he stepped on the bleachers and decided to sit on the second level, "something that you might find a little interesting."

If InuYasha had doggy ears, they would twitch and would point up and out to show that he had Ranma's attention. His dark eyes gleamed, "what?"

----

"InuYasha?"

Kagome repeated his name implanted that name into her name. She was never going to forget that name-ever. "InuYasha," she said once more.

"You like the name or something Kagome?" Ayame giggled.

"Sorry, it's just that I've never heard such a name like that before. It sounds… unique," Kagome replied with a smile.

"It's a pretty unique name, isn't it?" Sango asked Akane.

"I'll say," Akane replied.

"So what happened to the both of them?"

"We don't really know what happened to the both of them but what we do know is that Kikyo and InuYasha seemed like the strongest couple." Ayame started.

"What makes you say that?" Kagome asked.

"Well it's like this," Akane began, "they were complete opposites. Kikyo was, kind, sweet, smart and intelligent."

"And InuYasha was violent, had a short/bad temper, stubborn and was just plain animosic." Sango finished, "still is."

"Between InuYasha and Kikyo, it was more of an opposite attract concept." Akane explained.

"But wait a moment," Kagome asked, she turned to Sango, "Sango's when you said InuYasha was and still is what he was, what do you mean by that?"

"He still goes to this school." Ayame filled in.

"He's actually a friend of Ranma." Akane said. "The boy you met earlier Kagome."

"Okay," Kagome sighed, "so now we're getting somewhere with this."

---

"And I should be amused because?"

Ranma slurped his ramen before he responded. "You're not interested, or care at all?" he said with his mouth full.

InuYasha looked away, "Peh, if you're going to give me interesting news, then make sure that I will be _interested._"

Ranma and InuYasha, along with Ryoga and Miroku (mainly Ranma and InuYasha) were having a pretty blunt conversation about Ranma meeting Kagome who happed to resemble Kikyo. Ranma had just finished telling InuYasha about Kikyo's look alike. He thought InuYasha would be at least _little bit _interested about that. Instead, InuYasha seemed just a bit irritated.

"It's pretty interesting InuYasha," Miroku said.

"Yeah," Ryoga nodded. "Especially if this Kagome looks so identical to Kikyo-,"

"I. Don't. Care," InuYasha retorted as he got up from the bleachers and stepped down from them. "Besides," he started again, flashing his angry eyes, "I thought we were clear that we were to never speak of her-_ever."_

"…But InuYasha," Ryoga trailed.

"I'll see you around," He replied as he started to walk on ahead.

"Where are you going?" Ranma asked.

"Ain't it obvious? I'm going on a walk." InuYasha replied with his hands in his pockets, his back against his friends. Within moments, InuYasha was out of sight.

Ranma took another chop stick full of ramen that Shampoo gave to him and loudly slurped the last of it. "Is it just me or did my news kinda piss off InuYasha?"

"No Ranma, it isn't just you," Miroku replied.

"But you can't blame him…" Ryoga said, showing a little sympathy for InuYasha. "I guess the memories are just too painful for him."

"I suppose you're right Ryoga," Miroku said, staring at the field before him where InuYasha walked off. "Between him ad Kikyo, they were really close."

"And now that she's out of the picture, InuYasha gets in a bad mood a lot easier that before- _especially _when Kikyo's name is mentioned." Ranma then paused. "I guess I should have thought of that before telling him about her look alike."

"Speaking of which," Miroku began. "This girl, does she really resemble Kikyo?"

"Without a doubt," Ranma finished slurping the juice from his bowl. "When Akane introduced Kagome to me. I immediately thought that she was Kikyo. They could come off as sisters," he said wiping his mouth.

"Hm…" Miroku sat back of the bleachers He thought for a moment and then smiled greedily. "If that is the case, she must be a beauty beyond compare then."

Ryoga and Ranma both exchanged disgusted looks and then looked at Miroku.

"Unbelievable Miroku," Ranma commented.

"What? Am I not entitled to my own opinion? I'm just saying what I believe is true. You said so yourself Ranma, that Kagome and Kikyo could come off as twins." His dark blue eyes sparkled. "The last time I saw Kikyo, I remember her being attractive."

"You seriously can't say stuff like that around InuYasha." Ryoga told Miroku.

"Yeah, that's for sure." Ranma said placing his hands behind his head. "The last thing that InuYasha would ever want to hear about Kikyo was how cute she was."

"You guys obviously don't give me enough credit when it comes to loyalty and friendship towards InuYasha." Miroku said.

"Yeah Miroku…" Ranma scratched his chin, "Don't kid yourself."

Miroku sighed heavily in defeat as he got up from the bleachers and stepped out down from them.

"Where are you going?" Ryoga asked, confused.

Miroku stopped and turned to his friends, he smiled. "I'm going to meet this, Kagome. I'll see you guys around." Within seconds, Miroku was halfway across the field and out of sight. Both Ranma and Ryoga looked not too impressed as they watched Miroku walk away.

"'I'm going to meet this Kagome,' he says." Ranma mimicked. "More like try and sexually harass her."

Ryoga shook his head. "And he says that we have trust issues."

---

InuYasha walked around the outside of the school in hopes to get his mind cleared from unwanted memories that kept resurfacing into his mind; memories that would continue to haunt him no matter how hard he tried to forget about them. He sighed heavily as he stood walking and leaned against the school walls. His eyes slowly shifted up, watching the clouds float by.

"So it wasn't my imagination…" he finally spoke. _I really did see her in the halls before school started… I was almost positive that that was Kikyo I saw in the halls, but it was someone else who just happened to look like her…_

It was around eight twentyish in the morning, couple of minutes before school started. InuYasha was on his way to one of his first period classes, taking his sweet ass time to get there. As he walked to class, he noticed someone across the halls who he once dearly cared for and once trusted.

_K-Kikyo! _InuYasha remembered stating in his mind.

The girl who resembled Kikyo looked utterly dumb and confused didn't seem to know where she was going. It was almost as if she was a new student or something. The Kikyo that InuYasha knew was always alert and aware of her surroundings. The girl who InuYasha assumed was Kikyo looked straight at him- their eyes had met for the first time as everything went slow motion.

The last thing that InuYasha remembered about seeing Kikyo's look alike before the school bell rang and before she crashed into another student was how angry he felt to even see her face again.

InuYasha clenched his teeth and fist with rage; he wanted to hit something to help release his rage and frustration. Within moments, InuYasha's facial expression softened and turned into sadness.

_Damnit all… Kikyo, _an image of Kikyo came to his mind, _even in your absence; you still manage to torment me so…_

---

"So sad how they were so close," Kagome commented after sinking in the information of InuYasha and Kikyo from mainly Akane and Sango.

"An odd pair they were," Ayame said her elbow resting on the table with her chin resting on her palm. It seemed that she was slowly getting tired of the conversation.

Kagome sensed Ayame's boredom and immediately apologized, "sorry you must all be really annoyed with me bombarding you all with questions about Kikyo."

"Not annoyed Kagome, just a little… _bored," _Ayame replied.

"We don't blame you for asking so many questions about Kikyo," Sango said.

"Sango's right. If I resembled Kikyo or someone who made a great impact in our school, I would want to know what she was like too." Ayame said, "However…"

"You're the new student, Kagome," Sango began.

Akane flashed her large dark brown eyes, "What we mean is that we should be the ones asking _you _the questions. It's about high time we learned more about you."

"Such as where did you come from?" Ayame jumped in.

"And what brings you to Homashinto?" Sango asked.

"Well, my mother and little brother lived in a small quiet town along the Southern part of Tokyo." Kagome began to explain. "My family and I moved to Homashinto because of my younger brother."

Sango, Akane and Ayame all exchange puzzled looks.

"Yeah, I know, it's pretty strange," Kagome said.

"Why though?" Akane asked.

"Well you see, my Grandpa-"

"Akane, there you are!" A female student exclaimed as she walked over to Akane and brought out her palm

Akane looked appalled as she looked at the girl's palm and then at her. "Can I help you with something?" She asked irritably.

"I'm afraid I'm short on cash today and I'm hungry." The girl with straight short hair replied.

Akane looked at her with disbelief, "you, short on cash? That's not possible."

"It is and I am." The girl redirected her attention to Sango and Ayame, not noticing Kagome, "Oh, hi Sango, Ayame," she greeted unenthusiastically.

"Hi Nabiki," Sango and Ayame replied in unison (unenthusiastically as well).

"Come on Akane, help a sister out," Nabiki continued.

"Nabiki, Kagome was talking and you just interrupted her," Akane stated, irritably.

Nabiki didn't realize that she had interrupted Kagome as she switched her glace from Akane to Kagome. Akane's sister who seemed older than her, stared blankly at Kagome.

Kagome blinked back as she felt a sweat drop at the back of her head.

"Say," Nabiki began, cupping her thumb and index finger, "she really resembles Kikyo."

Akane sighed heavily as she rolled her eyes. "Well Nabiki, she's not Kikyo, her name is Kagome."

"I see… well, I'm Akane's older sister, Nabiki. It's um… nice to meet you, Kagome."

"Nice to meet you…." Kagome replied awkwardly.

"Anyway," Nabiki started, redirecting her attention to her younger sister and brought out her hand, "quit being stingy Akane… I'll pay you back."

Akane sighed heavily as she got out her backpack and got out her wallet and searched for her money, "how much?"

"…one thousand yen…"

"One thousand?!"

"Well… I'm starving Akane; I need something to fill up my stomach."

"Ugh, fine," Akane continued to shuffle through her wallet to bring out the money.

Nabiki impatiently continued to inch her hand closer to Akane.

Akane looked up at her sisters, still feeling skeptical, "you'll pay me back?"

"It's a promise dear sister."

"Here… one thousand yen," Akane said giving Nabiki the money.

Nabiki smiled as she playfully patted Akane's head. "Thanks Akane," as she closed her hand where she held the money. "So I guess I'll see you later and don't worry Akane, I'll pay you back- promise."

"Yeah, yeah… I'll most likely see you at home Nabiki," Akane said, convinced that she probably will never see her money again.

"Well now that I've gotten what I wanted, I'll see you around, see you girls later." Nabiki said as she was heading back into the school.

"Bye, Nabiki," the girls said in unison.

"Sorry about that," Akane apologized to her friends the moment Nabiki was out of sight.

"Don't worry about it Akane," Sango replied.

_For reasons like that… I'm glad to be an only child. _Ayame thought taking another sip of her pop.

"So Nabiki is your older sister?" Kagome asked Akane.

"Yup, she's one of my older sisters; I have two. Nabiki is a year older than all of us- she's in Grade 12. Kasumi is my oldest sister who's already out of high school."

"Huh," Kagome replied.

"So Kagome, you never really finished telling us of what brought you here to Homashinto no Tsuma." Sango insisted.

Kagome smiled as she thought back to where she left off. "Well you see, my family and I moved here because of my younger brother. My Grandfather is a shrine keeper ad he needed an heir to take over his shrine when he passed on."

"The Higurashi shrine…" Sango repeated.

"Oh!" Akane said excitedly, "I've heard of that shrine."

"So the heir needed to be the eldest male in the family; which is your brother seeing how he is the only Higurashi male, I assume." Ayame said.

"Basically… yeah."

"That's kinda the same ideal with you and Ranma, Akane." Sango stated.

"Yeah… sorta…" Akane replied as she ate the last of her lunch.

"You mean, you and Ranma are not engage for the sake of love?" Kagome asked out of curiosity.

Akane turned bright red from Kagome's question as she lowered her eyes. Avoiding any form of eye contact. "Of course not! I'm not _in love_ with Ranma! It was our parent's decision! His father and mine that agreed Ranma and I were to marry so that the Tendo Dojo of "Anything Goes" marital arts is passed onto Ranma."

"So an arranged marriage?" Kagome said.

"Exactly, we don't like each other; we're just forced to marry." Akane confirmed.

It was now quiet at the table. It had seemed as if everyone had finished eating their lunch but no one was yet willing to get up from where they sat. Sango drank what was the last of her water bottle and started to fidget with the empty water bottle. Sango took the liberty to break the silence as she got up from where she sat. "So are we done here?"

"I guess…" Ayame said as she drank what was left of her coke. After Ayame finished her drink, she placed the can on the table and also got up from where she sat, picking up her backpack as well.

Akane and Kagome got up and grabbed their stuff soo after. All four girls then grabbed their garbage of food threw out to the closet trashcan.

Kagome at that moment suddenly remembered something. "Oh, I just realized that I have to find my locker still… I wasn't able to find it this morning."

"What's you locker number Kagome?" Sango asked.

Kagome thought back before she responded, "uh… I think twenty, eighty-six…"

"That's probably somewhere in the West of school," Ayame figured.

"Well them… let's get going then, before fourth period class begins." Akane said already walking to the school doors.

"You guys don't really have to do this for me." Kagome said.

"You're the new student Kagome," Sango said.

"We're also your new friends so it is our duty to help you out." Ayame said.

"Besides, this school is a big place, you can easily get lost if you went on it alone." Akane said.

Kagome didn't know what to say, the word friends kept repeating her mind. She simply smiled to herself as she followed Akane and the others into the school to find her locker.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**End Chapter**

**--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer:** **I don't own the anime Ranma ½ or InuYasha; these anime series InuYasha belong to Rumiko Takahashi- it's all hers!! I don't own any of the characters Lady Takahashi created. That means I don't own Ranma, Akane, Ukyo, Shampoo, Nabiki, InuYasha, Kagome, Shippo, Miroku, Sango, Kikyo, blah, blah, blah… if you are truly fans of Takahashi's work then you should know the characters who she created. **

* * *

***Life in Homashinto no Tsuma***

***Chapter 4:**** The Return of Kikyo?! Part 3**

* * *

--------------------------------------------

_Hm… if I was an attractive new student, where would I be? _Miroku had practically been searching high and low for Kikyo's look-a-like Kagome within the school halls. However he was unsuccessful. _Augh… curse the size of this school. If this school was smaller I would be able to find Kikyo's look-a-like._

Miroku simply moved his head back which banged the locker lightly. "I searched almost everywhere for this girl." He smirked, "well I guess it's hard to find someone without any leads," _I've been out around the school; I've been in the cafeteria. _Miroku simply sighed as he looked at his wrist watch to see the time. It was twelve minutes before four was about to begin.

"Well…" Miroku began, "I might as well get ready for fourth period class before I'm late-,"

"I think your locker is somewhere around here, Kagome," said a familiar voice.

_Hey was that my imagination or did that sound a lot like Sango? _Miroku thought as he chose to hide just around the corridor, remaining out of sight from the girls he heard.

"What was your number again, Kagome?" Miroku heard Akane asked.

_Kagome? _Miroku remembered hearing that name before; _could this be the name of Kikyo's look alike?_

"Twenty, sixty-six… twenty, sixty-seven… sixty-eight… sixty-seven…" Miroku heard Ayame count.

"I don't think my locker is around here in this hallway…" Kagome said, sounding doubtful.

"But we're getting close to it," Akane said.

"If we still can't find it Kagome, you can always borrow mine," Sango suggested.

"Or you can simply have mine, I hardly use it," Ayame said.

"I'm sure we'll find it before class starts… right?" Kagome said trying to sound hopeful.

"Probably," Akane replied, "if we keep looking we'll eventually find it. If not… you can just steal some other locker that no one uses, maybe a locker next to mine."

Miroku heard the sound of the hallway doors open.

"Maybe we'll find it down this hall." Sango suggested.

"Gee… I never thought that finding a locker was such a _quest_!" Kagome joked.

"Well at least you're getting a semi tour around the school," Sango pointed out.

"That's actually kinda true… it's a beautiful school I must admit," Kagome said.

"If you love the inside of the school, then you'll love the outside of it as well. This school might as well be a university because of the size of it." Ayame said.

"That's for sure," Akane giggled. "Keep in mind Kagome, it'll take you at least… about a week in a half, two a most to get used to the school, one can really get lost in this school."

_Ryoga included, _Miroku thought quietly to himself overhearing the conversation. He then realized that the girl's voices were fading away meaning that they were heading to a new hallway. At that moment, Miroku felt his body tense; this was his chance! Miroku swallowed hard and cleared his throat as he was about to get and introduce himself to Kagome until- _**BONK!**_

A strange unordinary girl jumped of Miroku's head which caused Miroku to fall forward, flat on his face. The girl who jumped off his head did a summersault and landed lightly on her feet as if she was as light as a feather.

The girl flashed her big dark blue eyes which resembled Ranma's eyes and flicked her pigtail that also resembled Ranma's but had red streaks in her hair instead of full black hair. She looked down at the known to be lecherous boy who was still face first into the ground as she kneeled to his level.

"Yo Miroku, have you seen my brother by any chance?" She asked.

Miroku moaned loud with such pain that he felt a bump form the back of his head. By the time he lifted his head, he already heard the school hallway doors close. It turns out that Sago and the others didn't hear Miroku practically getting trampled. Miroku sighed from disappointment.

The girl who was exactly identical to Ranma cocked her head to the side. "Well Miroku?"

Miroku pushed himself up from the floor and looked up at Ranma's female self. "Shouldn't you be in class, Ranko?" He asked irritated, noticing Ranko's backpack.

"Pfft… substitute today… those teachers are so easy to take advantage of and besides there is like what… ten minutes before class ends. Anyway," she said, remembering what she really wanted. "Ranma, have you see him?"

"Why do you want to know?"

"Well… I've been hearing rumors about some new student who looks like… Ranma's friend's ex-girlfriend." Ranko said scratching her head.

"You mean Kikyo?"

"That's the name! So you've heard of her look-a-like too?"

Miroku got up from where he sat, stood infront of Ranko as he dusted off his school uniform. "As a matter of fact, I do. Your brother is the one who informed me about her."

"Yeah? Everyone has been talking about it non-stop. That's why I was wondering if you had seen my brother. Usually you are with him and Ryoga and InuYasha."

"Well if you must know, I set out on my own to meet Kikyo's twin, Kagome."

Ranko gave Miroku a look, _that's not all you want to do, perve… _"There is more to it isn't there Miroku?"

"Wha-what ever do you mean?"

"Don't act innocent," she said folding her arms, "you're going to try and do something _else_ with her too!" Ranko accused, "womanizer," she then mumbled to herself.

Miroku's eyebrow slightly twitched he was speechless until he found words to respond as he gently took the hands of Ranko. "Ranko, do you feel intimidated by this new girl?"

Ranko felt a sweat drop go down to back of her head, "what?"

Miroku looked deep into Ranko's eyes, "you shouldn't have to feel that this new girl will come down between us. There is definitely enough of me to go around."

"Intimidated? Listen you-,"

In that instant, Ranko had felt something touching her rear-end. She soon turned red from discomfort and angry, knowing that it was Miroku touching it.

"Miroku you, you…" Ranko growled as she brought out her hand, "you are even worse than Kuno!" _**–SMACK- **_"Pervert!" Ranko gave Miroku one last slap across the face. "And you wonder _why _I'm nervous for Kikyo's look a like?"

Ranko made a head start down the school halls. "I'll make sure that I meet this Kagome girl before she meets you, Miroku!" and with that, she continued to walk (at a very quick pace) down the hall until she was out of site from Miroku.

Miroku just sat there resting his hand on his cheek where Ranko had slapped him, twice. He slightly flinched from the pain that Ranko had left on his cheek; damn could she slap!

The young male teenager stood there as he sighed to himself and chuckled. _With a body like that… how could I possibly resist? _He thought, thinking about Ranko's enticing body and how appealing it is to the male eye. Miroku sighed once more until he had an epiphany, he remembered his real purpose of being in the school twenty minutes before the third period class had ended- Kikyo's double!

Miroku quickly turned to the hall doors where he had last heard of Sango and the rest of the girls' voiced before he was jumped on by Ranko. Miroku tried quickly to rush to the hall doors that led him to the next hallway. By the time he had reached the doors a familiar sound rang throughout the entire school –_**RIIING- **_third period was over.

_Oh no… _Miroku thought knowing what was going to happen.

The classroom doors soon opened. Within seconds the hallway was once again flooded with students as they all tried to get to either their fourth period classes. Miroku tried his best to get past through almost every student who managed to get in his way.

_Ugh, at this rate I'll never be able to catch up with Sango and the other girls. _He thought impatiently as he continued to get past the students who were somewhat in his way.

"Hey, do you know what happened to Ranko?" Miroku over heard a male student (most likely Ranko's classmate).

"She must've skipped the last twenty minutes of economics class; she said that she was going to find her brother, Ranma. That substitute was so easy to take advantage of." the female student replied

"Hey, I heard that there is a girl in our school who looks just like Kikyo!" Another male student said.

"I bet that's why Ranko left class early, so she could meet her!" The female student replied.

"Yo, I want to see this Kikyo look-a-like myself before anyone else does!" A male student announced in the crowd of students.

"Well good luck with that genius, everyone is going to want to meet her. Besides, class starts in like five minutes anyway!" The other female said.

_She's right, _Miroku thought, _there is no way I'm going to meet Kagome now, not with this many people in the halls anyway. _Miroku sighed heavily, knowing that there was absolutely no point in trying to find Kagome now. _Aw well… there is always after school._

With that, Miroku headed to his locker to grab his backpack before the second bell rang.

-----

"Ugh how annoying," Kagome groaned, ignoring the student watching her as they were heading to class.

"You can say that again," Sango agreed.

"I'm actually starting to wonder if this locker exists." Kagome wondered, seeming doubtful.

Ayame sighed, "It's just a locker Kagome. When worst comes to worst, you can always use my locker. I hardly use the thing."

"Thanks Ayame," Kagome replied.

"No worries, might as well, right?" Ayame said.

"Great, now that is settled," Akane started, "we should probably start heading to class before we're late," she stated, seeing how there were less students in the halls.

At that moment, Ayame had stopped walking, remembering something as she slightly smiled to herself. "Which reminds me," she started, scanning the hallway, trying to find the next corridor that would lead her to the quickest stairway. "My class is downstairs so I should be heading to the stairs anyway, can't be late for Drama class," she said. She began to walk on ahead, her three friends watching her go.

"H-hang on a minute Ayame, I could walk partway with you. I also have class downstairs." Sango said.

Ayame laughed nervously as she waved Sango off. "Its fine, you don't have to," she said as she quickened her pace a little bit, "I'll see you guys later, it was nice meeting you Kagome," she said with a playful wink.

"Like wise, Ayame," Kagome said with a smile.

"See you guys later," Ayame said one last time as she walked down the hall. Shuffling through what was left of the students who were still lingering in the halls. Within moments, she was gone, leaving Akane, Sang and Kagome.

"Boy, was it just me or did Ayame seem to be in a bit of a hurry?" Kagome asked who seemed to have noticed Ayame's nervousness.

"Beats me," Sango said placing bother hands on her hips as she looked over to Akane, wondering if she knew what was going on.

Akane responded with a shrug.

-----

"The stupid jerks, especially Miroku, ditching us like that," Ranma muttered to Ryoga as he pushed open the school doors.

"I can understand InuYasha; I have a little sympathy for the guy," Ryoga began, "but Miroku, being his own lecherous self."

"As usual," Ranma replied.

Ryoga gave a weak smirk, "you can say that again."

The two boys continued to walk down the school halls as they pushed open the doors. As they continued to walk, Ranma was one of the first to notice that there were only a few students who were still walking around in the halls.

"Doesn't look like we'll make it to class on time," Ranma finally said.

"Yeah," Ryoga said starting to take notice of the low number of students in the halls, "you got that right."

"…stupid Miroku…" Ranma let out a sigh, "what class do you have?"

Ryoga stopped walking and gave Ranma a confused look, "drama, why?"

Ranma rolled his eyes, "with your sense of direction, it would take you until the end of fourth period to find it. Face it, you sense of direction is as bad as Moose's vision."

"Hey, I can find my class just fine. I don't need someone walking me to class like some old lady trying to get across the street." Ryoga said, beginning to get offended.

"Chill Ryoga, no need to get defensive, I'm risking my punctuality for you so you can find your class… yeesh, very touchy." Ranma said.

Ryoga moved forward, already walking to wrong direction and turned to Ranma. "Well I don't need an escort Saotome, I can find my own way to class, without you help-,"

"Hey Ryoga," called a high, light and familiar voice.

Both Ranma and Ryoga turned to see who called out for Ryoga; it was no other than the long reddish, dark brown haired, bright green eyed Ayame.

"…uh… hi Ayame…" Ryoga replied sheepishly, scratching his head.

It seemed that Ayame was somewhat blushing as she nervously took a step forward, not even noticing Ranma who was beside Ryoga.

"We have class together; you want to walk to class together?" Ayame asked.

"Uh… okay…" Ryoga replied.

Ayame smiled, "let's get going before we're _really_ late for class." And with that, Ayame began heading to their class. Ryoga soon followed suit not even saying bye to Ranma.

Ranma just stood there frowning and gave Ryoga a look as he watching his follow Ayame dumbly like a lost puppy.

"And I thought he didn't need an escort." Ranma said, "Pfft… whatever… I'm going to late for class."

And before Ranma knew it, the second school bell had rung signaling that fourth period had already begun.

----

"Ah, made it," _and not a moment too soon _Kagome thought as she entered fourth period classroom. _I still wonder what made Ayame leave so quickly… and the funny thing is I could've walked part way with her. I was going the same direction anyway. Aw well… it's not really my business, _she thought as she continued to walk into the class, not noticing that all eyes were on her.

Kagome's train of though was interrupted when she had felt all the student eyes on her. It seemed as if, Kagome's tolerance level was dropping as she was becoming a little more irritated with the stares and yet within, moments, the whispers emerged.

"Woah… famous look-a-like, Kikyo!" One classmate began.

"Who would have thought that she would be in our class?" another commented.

Kagome sighed loud and heavily to herself as she proceeded into the classroom, _I should probably be used to this by now… _she thought as she continued to walk past the desks to the empty seat that was at the very back of the classroom, noticing that the teacher who seemed as if she was in her early 30's was watching her as she adjusted her glasses.

"Ahem," she began, bringing out what seemed to be the attendance sheet and a pencil to mark it down, "name please…"

_Isn't it obvious who I am by now? _"Kagome Higurashi"

"Okay…" the teacher said marking it down on the attendance sheet. Once she finished marking it down, taking off her glasses, "welcome to my Religions class, I'm Miss Kudo; have a seat."

Kagome slowly sat down in her seat as she took off her backpack and dropped it on her right side only to notice that she basically had the 'window seat.' She smiled as she adjusted herself quite nicely to make herself comfortable ignoring the students who were watching her.

"Now then," Miss Kudo began as she got up from her desk and began heading to the chalkboard and began writing something on the board, "We all believe that we all have… beliefs… right?"

Most of the students in the classroom nodded their, including Kagome agreement.

Miss Kudo smiled, "good," she picked up a piece of chalk and began writing something on the blackboard and then stopped and turned to Kagome, "you have your textbook already, Kagome."

All eyes from her classmate were on her once again, at this point Kagome was starting o wonder why she even bothered sitting at the back of the classroom. Regardless, Kagome brought out her textbook and nodded as a response.

"Yes… I do," Kagome said.

"Good, I hope everyone brought their textbooks today because we're going to be doing bookwork for the remainder of the period." Miss Kudo informed the rest of the class. She then continued to write terms on the board, "for those who wish to pass this upcoming quiz, you might want to jot these definitions down, and you'll come across these terms in today's chapter that you will read."

As if on cue, the majority of the students dug into their backpacks bringing out their binders and a writing utensil and lined paper. Kagome brought out her notebook and began writing the date.

As Kagome wrote down the date, she stopped and tapped her pen on the paper repeatedly not even paying attention to Miss Kudo's lesson. Despite all the attention that Kagome had been getting the moment she stepped foot into Furinkan High, the one thing that really couldn't stop thinking about was the "Kikyo and the InuYasha ideal."

_I guess that explains why InuYasha look… _Kagome thought, continuing to tap her pen on her paper and looked out the window. _He must've thought that I was Kikyo. _Kagome then frowned. _He still didn't have to give such a nasty look… _her face then softened as she started writing what was on the board, _I guess he must know by now, seeing how gossipy this school can really be, InuYasha must know by now that I am not Kikyo…_

"How nice of you to drop by Ranma Saotome," Miss Kudo announced, breaking Kagome's train of thoughts. Miss Kudo looked at the clock, "by a good ten minutes too."

"Sorry Miss Kudo, guess I lost track of time," Ranma replied with a shrug.

_That's Akane's fiancée, Ranma, _Kagome thought.

Miss Kudo sighed and shook her head at Ranma, "I suppose, better late than never… have a seat Saotome."

Ranma proceeded into the classroom to sit in his seat until he had noticed that Kagome was not only in his religious class but she was in his seat too. Kagome didn't really say anything but just looked up at him, not knowing what to do. There were no other seats left in the classroom. It seemed as if Miss Kudo had noticed the same problem as well.

"Well, I suppose there are spare desks in the other classroom that you can get. Ask Mr. Tunikama, he may have some extra desk you can use. But be quick and quiet about it, other classes are in session." Miss Kudo suggested.

"Alright," Ranma said, dropping his backpack behind Kagome's desk.

Kagome turned to Ranma, "I'm sorry, do you need help?"

"Nah, don't worry about it Kagome, it's good to know I won't be such a total loner in this class." He replied as he headed up and out of the classroom.

"And be quick about it Saotome," Miss Kudo ordered.

"Yeah, yeah," he said once he was outside of the classroom.

_Well, he seems nice… _Kagome thought. She felt also kind of relieved that she wasn't going to be alone in her classroom either. _According to Akane… Ranma is friends with InuYasha. I wonder if Ranma told InuYasha about me though… I don't see why he wouldn't. _Kagome let out a sigh. 

_I seemed to have received a lot of information about InuYasha and Kikyo. They seem to have really been close… _Kagome had a quick flashback of when she first saw InuYasha in the school halls in the morning, remembering InuYasha's dirty look he gave her. _Believing that I was Kikyo, by giving me a dirty look, seeing the hurt in his eyes… Kikyo must've really hurt him. If I knew what Kikyo did… _Kagome as well as every other students lifted their heads to see Ranma at the door carrying the extra desk he must've found in the other class.

With the desk in his hands, Ranma put it over his head as he walked past the desks to the back where Kagome was. Kagome pulled in her backpack so that it was easier for Ranma to get by. Ranma decided to place his desk behind Kagome's once Ranma placed the desk behind Kagome; he walked up to the front of the class and brought his chair to the back. He then got himself comfortable, ready for the remainder of the period.

"Are you finished Saotome?" Miss Kudo asked, sounding a little frustrated in her voice.

Ranma nodded, "yeah,"

Miss Kudo smiled, "good, be sure you have your textbook today, and," she tapped on the chalkboard to redirect his attention to it, "you're going to have to take this frown if you want to pass your upcoming quiz."

Ranma didn't respond as he began searching through his backpack. He then stopped, realizing that he seemed to have come unprepared. He then leaned forward to Kagome's desk.

"Do you have an extra sheet of paper?" He asked.

Kagome smiled to herself, as she brought out a sheet of paper for Ranma and gave it to him, "here."

"Thanks, it's the least you can do for taking my desk." Ranma joked with a smirk. "Best seat in the whole class."

Kagome just smiled as she turned forward. _It is a pretty nice spot in the class isn't it? _She thought, utterly zoning out from Miss Kudo's lesson.

---

_RIIIIIIIIIINNNGG!_

Fourth period was finally over and fifth period was to begin in another five minutes. Once the school bell had rung, everyone started collecting their books, papers and binders put them in their backpacks including Ranma and Kagome. Before Kagome headed to the door, she brought out a piece of paper which seemed like her schedule.

"Don't forget class you have a quiz to write based on these terms on the board I wrote down earlier this period." Miss Kudo reminded her students who seemed so at it one leaving the class.

Kagome took a mental note of Miss Kudo's advice as she scanned down her schedule. "So I have," she began as she headed out her religions class, ignoring her peers who were talking about her.

"Only have one more period to go," Ranma said who was walking behind Kagome.

Kagome turned around, "oh, hey, sorry about the whole 'taking your seat thing…'"

"I thought I told you not to worry about it. I'll live, no biggie…" Ranma replied. "Besides, it gave me a reason, or more rather an excuse to leave Miss Kudo's class."

"Yeah… but I couldn't focus, not really," Kagome said.

"I can imagine the whole Kikyo thing." Ranma said, noticing that most of his peers in the hallway who were watching Kagome. "If I had a picture of her," he placed his hands behind his heads, "you wouldn't believe how similar you and Kikyo looked."

"That similar huh?"

"I wouldn't be surprised if _InuYasha _confused, seeing you believing that you were Kikyo."

Kagome remembered InuYasha's face and the expression he had when he saw her, "…yeah."

"Don't worry too much about it Kagome, Kikyo did have a huge on this school before she left, so it is a huge deal that some girl looks exactly like Kikyo."

Kagome didn't say anything.

"This thing may not subside today, maybe not even a week from now…" Ranma started on. Kagome looked up at Ranma, "but it will eventually."

Kagome smiled weakly, "I got that from Akane and the others, thanks."

"No worries," Ranma walked on ahead, turned around and gave a quick 'peace out' sign. "I'll see you later, classmate."

"Bye," Kagome replied, resuming to her schedule. _He seems pretty nice… I don't know why Akane makes him seem like a… jerk. Hm…_ "Oh, here we go; physics in room 300. Well I guess I got a long way to go from here then. Kagome started to quicken her pace down the hall so that she would not be late for class. As she continued to walk… she began to realize why she didn't bother Ranma to help find her class. "That probably might've been a good idea… oh well… sometimes you need to find these things on your own."

---

_Just one more period and this day is done. _InuYasha thought, taking another drag of hi cigarette and blowing out the air.

"Hasn't anyone told you at least once that is bad for your health?"

InuYasha stopped himself from taking another drag of his cigarette as he looked at the old woman who was approaching him. She seemed much shorter than him, a full two heads shorter. InuYasha looked around as if he was unaware of where he was.

"I didn't know I was in the guidance office." He said sarcastically.

"Ai, but if you were, you would be fined or even suspended for smoking on school property. However, you should be in class, should you not?"

InuYasha didn't respond immediately knowing that he was to be in class. "What are you doing here?" He asked, changing the subject, "shouldn't you be… counseling students instead of trying to tell me what to do, Kaede?"

The old guidance counselor smiled weakly at InuYasha's behavior, "it's almost two, I need to be heading home in time for Shippo to come home."

"Oh yeah, you work part time so you are normally off at this time." InuYasha said taking another drag of his cigarette.

"You know InuYasha, there was a time that you once began the habit of smoking and then you stopped because of a girl. After she left, you took on the habit of smoking again. Do you see the pattern?"

"Pfft, that's none of your business why I chose to do it nor is it your business to bring up my past relationships; you don't know me like that." InuYasha said rudely.

"Maybe not, but that young girl was my niece. I also know your mother very well too and she would be very disappointed to find out that her son was planning to skip _another _class not to mention caught smoking close to school property."

InuYasha gave Kaede one long dirty hard look as he took one last long, deep drag of his cigarette, still looking at Kaede. When he was convinced that he was satisfied with that drag, he flicked what was left of the stick and started walking on ahead, his hands deep into to his pockets.

"I hope you are heading to you last period class, InuYasha."

"Yeah, yeah," InuYasha said not looking back at the old guidance counselor.

Kaede watching him go until he was out of sight. She then shook her head. _That InuYasha… so darn stubborn._

_---_

_Where does she get the nerve, brining Kikyo into this? I smoke whenever I want. It's none of her business of why I chose to stop smoking in the first place. Whatever… the moment that final bell rings, I am gone. _InuYasha thought to himself as he continued to take his time to class. He continued walked down the empty halls, down the corridor and up the stairs.

"I just hope that Mrs. Fujii is in a good mood today because I'm in no mood for any kind of lecture from her."

---

"Okay class, be sure to listen and follow along these problems that we are going to go through together as a class. These are some of the basic formulas we are going to use this time around. However, as the unit progresses it's going to get more difficult so it's important for you pay attention through _every _session. If you miss lesson, you are basically for the reminder of the unit." The physics teacher, Mrs. Fuji warned. "Now, then," she began picking up piece of chalk, "starting with page forty-six, question 1. a…"

Kagome, who was sitting nearly at the back but still somewhat in the middle of the classroom was trying to concentrate and yet at the sometime trying to ignore the students who were glancing at her every few seconds. You would have thought by now she would have somewhat gotten used to it by somehow it seemed much more irritating this time around.

_Ugh, how annoying… every three seconds in this classroom particular, I receive a glance from some jerk or some stuck up chick _Kagome thought. _Then again, apparently Kikyo was in this class with the same classmates and teacher. No wonder I'm getting this many looks. But still… how am I supposed to concentrate with all these people staring at me? _She screamed in her mind, _God!_

None the less, Kagome tried the best she could to ignore her peer as she looked focused what was on the board and what Mrs. Fuji was explaining. As the lesson progressed the blackboard was becoming more filled and the student's hands were starting to feel more cramped. Kagome seemed to be in the zone as she made notes to what was on the board as Mrs. Fuji continued writing down the formulas- Mrs. Fuji also seemed to be in the zone as well until she heard someone knocking on the door.

All heads in the classroom turned as they watched Mrs. Fuji approached the door mumbling, "Who could that possibly be?" she turned the knob and opened the door. From the looks of it Mrs. Fuji didn't look too impressed as she folded her arms and tapped impatiently on her foot.

"Mr. Cahn," Mrs. Fuji began, "you better have a good explanation" she glanced at the clock. Fifth period had began at 1:50pm and it was 2:17pm.

Whispers began to stir up in the classroom. Everyone but Kagome knew who Mrs. Fuji was talking to. The name 'InuYasha' arises in the whispers which caused Kagome's heart to skip a beat.

_InuYasha is in this class? _Kagome thought her heart was still somewhat pounding. But wait, why was Kagome so nervous? _I hardly even know the guy. Besides, Cahn is a pretty common last name anyway. _She tired reassuring herself although she didn't know why.

"Well I'm going to be blunt with you," Mr. Cahn began still standing outside the classroom. "I really wasn't going to show."

"I see…" Mrs. Fuji did not look impressed. "Well I suppose you can make up for lost time after school." There was a brief pause between Mrs. Fuji and the very un-prompt student. "Just have a seat Mr. Cahn." She said rubbing her temples. "You will have to borrow someone's notes; we have covered a lot in over 30 minutes.

Judging by the silence it seemed as if the student didn't care as he walked into the classroom when his true self was finally revealed, his face stoned from shock, with his eyes locked on Kagome as if he had seen a ghost.

Kagome face had also fallen as her stomach soon began to fill with butterflies, with her heart still pounding. Once again, I seemed as if time stood still. _Its… its him! The boy from this morning! _Kagome thought having a quick glimpse of the boy in her head_. Its… InuYasha!_

_---_

_That girl… the Kikyo look-a-like, the same girl from this morning… great and from this morning… great and just my luck too. _InuYasha thought bitterly as he proceeded into the classroom, giving Kikyo's double a dirty look. _I knew I should have skipped this class…_

Kikyo's look-a-like still seemed to be in a bit of a shock but at the same time a little confused from InuYasha's dirty looks he kept giving her.

---

_What's his problem? I didn't do anything to him. _Kagome thought with her eyes following InuYasha until he walked past her and settled in a seat a couple of desks behind her.

Even though InuYasha was sitting behind her, Kagome could still sense InuYasha's eyes on her. As a response, Kagome slowly turned around and sure enough InuYasha's eyes were on her and he wasn't looking at her as if she was a queen or someone important. If anything he looked at her as if she was a demon.

_Ugh! I'm not Kikyo! Get that through your think skull! _Kagome wanted to scream at InuYasha. "Geez…" she sighed. Kagome felt compelled to turn around one last time to see if was still watching her sure enough he was.

---

_RIIIINNNNG _

Finally after a long period of time the fifth and last period of school was finally over, according to the school bell. Within moments, students were beginning to gather their books and papers including Kagome, who now more than ever wanted to get out of the classroom- away from InuYasha.

"Alright class, be sure to practice these questions I wrote on the board." Mrs. Fuji reminded, "and start reading the next chapter."

_Finally school is over… and what a day having to resemble who must've been a, a… legend! _Kagome thought to herself, collecting her books. _What sucks now is that I have to deal with nonsense; especially from this class. _Kagome closed her backpack and turned to see if InuYasha was still looking. It seemed as if he never looked away since he entered the classroom. _That does it!_

She shoved her chair into the desk as she picked her backpack and began making her way to InuYasha's desk. InuYasha seemed to be watching her every move as he cautiously moved back as if she was some animal with a disease.

Kagome took a deep breath as her heartbreak steadily began to increase- why was she so nervous?

"Listen… InuYasha right?"

No response, just the same dirty glance.

Kagome sighed with frustration as she continued on. "Look, I've noticed that you were… staring at me for basically for the remainder of the period thinking that I was her." Kagome waited for InuYasha to reply but didn't say anything. Instead she received the same dirty look. "You must've been hearing everyone around the school talking about me being the 'Kikyo-look-alike.' So you probably know by now that I am not Kikyo; I'm not her. I am Kagome."

InuYasha still didn't respond as he continued giving Kagome the same dirty look since he had first laid his eyes on her.

_What's his problem? I basically confirmed it to him that I'm not Kikyo. He needs to get over himself. _Kagome thought, getting irritated by InuYasha's glare. She finally let out and exasperated sigh as she got up from where she was and began to head to the door and leave until-

"So what if you're not Kikyo?"

Kagome turned around, confused, "what?"

InuYasha leaned back on his chair still giving Kagome the same look, "it doesn't change the fact that you look like her."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Still confused, Kagome was fully turned around facing him.

"It means that I have to put up with a _less _pretty version of Kikyo for the rest of the school year." InuYasha replied rudely.

_Are you being serious right now? _Kagome thought to herself. She couldn't believe he just said that. "Would you get over yourself?" I'm not Kikyo!"

"I heard you the first time… you clearly aren't. There are a lot of things that Kikyo was that you're not." He snorted, "Looks is one of them and probably intelligence too. Now that I think about it… I don't know how I got you confused with her in the first place." InuYasha's dark ocean eyes looked straight at Kagome, his eyes now locked on hers. "If anything, you are a _lesser _version of Kikyo; you are worthless."

Kagome felt like she had just received a devastating slap from InuYasha from his harsh words. She didn't want to say or think; how dare he say such words to her! From the look on InuYasha's face, he didn't seem to have any remorse on his face whatsoever; just coldness in his eyes.

Kagome remained speechless as she just stood there, still as all the hurtful words began to sink in. She felt herself tremble from his harsh words. Giving InuYasha one fierce look, she clenched her fist as she stormed out of the classroom, slamming the door behind her.

* * *

**End Chapter**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer:** **I don't own the anime Ranma ½ or InuYasha; these anime series InuYasha belong to Rumiko Takahashi- it's all hers!! I don't own any of the characters Lady Takahashi created. That means I don't own Ranma, Akane, Ukyo, Shampoo, Nabiki, InuYasha, Kagome, Shippo, Miroku, Sango, Kikyo, blah, blah, blah… if you are truly fans of Takahashi's work then you should know the characters who she created. **

* * *

***Life in Homashinto no Tsuma***

***Chapter 5:**** After a Long Day… **

* * *

--------------------------------------------

Grandfather Higurashi was busy sweeping away the dirt that seemed to be accumulating in front of the Higurashi shrine. He began to feel a little bit exhausted as he stopped for a moment.

"Phew! What I would give to have a glass of lemonade right now." He continued to sweep away until he began to hear footsteps getting louder and louder as if someone was approaching him. He turned to see that it was his granddaughter Kagome who was walking up the steps.

"Oh, hello Kagome! How was your first day of school?" He asked as he continued to sweep, not noticing that Kagome walked right past him without saying "hi" or anything, let a lot pay attention to him as she continued walking into the house. "Don't say a word; I know, I can tell, you probably had a great day." Grandpa Higurashi continued, still not noticing Kagome was long gone, "am I right Kagome?" Grandpa turned around only to discover that he was practically talking to himself since Kagome wasn't there to listen, "Kagome?"

----

"So how was your first day of school, Sota? Have you made any friends yet?" Sota's mother asked him as they were putting away the groceries that she bought earlier in the day.

"It was great mom!" Sota replied as he opened the fridge to put two dozen eggs into it. "The teachers are great and I made new friends especially with this on guy named Sri. He invited me over to his place tomorrow. Do you think I could-,"

Both Sota and his mother heard the door slam which caused Sota to stop talking as he turned and looked at his mom with confusion. Mrs. Higurashi looked up ahead and saw Kagome remove her shoes from the entrance.

"Oh hi Kagome; how was your first day?"

Kagome didn't respond as she quickly walked upstairs to her bedroom and closed the door behind her with a slam.

"I'm going to take a wild guess that she didn't have a good day…" Sota said as he removed a can of soup from the grocery bags.

"Um Sota, I'm going to check to see what's wrong with your sister. Could you help put the rest of the groceries away?" Mrs. Higurashi asked him.

"Sure, no problem mom." He said removing the rest of the grocery items from the bag.

"Thanks," Mrs. Higurashi a said, as she stopped what she was doing and began heading upstairs to Kagome's room.

-----

Kagome slammed the door behind her once she had entered into her bedroom. She dropped her backpack beside her desk and just collapsed onto her bed. She was so furious with what happened earlier this afternoon that she didn't even want to talk to anybody. Kagome didn't mean to come off as a bitch to her Grandfather, mother or her younger brother; she just didn't want to release her frustration out on anyone. Still, Kagome tried to blank it out but it still kept playing again in her head.

"_If anything, you are a_ lesser _version of Kikyo, you are worthless…" _Kagome remembered InuYasha saying to her. _I should have slapped him. I should have done something… he had no right to say such things to me like that; how dare he! _"He doesn't even know me!"

Kagome lost her train of thought once she heard someone knocking on her door. "Who is it?" she asked with a hint of irritation in her voice.

It was Kagome's mother at the door who timidly peeped her head in, reveling herself. "Is it alright if I come in?"

Kagome got up from her bed and sat upright and shift on the other side of her bed so her mother would have room to sit. Kagome didn't give her mother eye contact immediately as Kagome's mother closed the door behind her before she sat next to her. It was quiet for a moment before Mrs. Higurashi spoke.

"So how was your first day?" Mrs. Higurashi asked breaking the silence.

Kagome who still wasn't giving her mother eye contact simply replied, "okay."

"Did you make any friends?"

"Yeah…"

It was quiet for a moment before Kagome's mother broke the silence again, rubbing her daughter's arm to comfort her. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"… I'd rather not," Kagome simply replied, still looking at the floor.

Kagome's mother didn't argue as she gently squeezed her daughter's arm for encouragement. "Okay dear, you know where to find me," and with that, she made her way out of Kagome's room, closing the door behind her.

Kagome was alone again in her room as she fell back on her bed with an aggravated sigh, staring at the ceiling. _I'm not going to let a jerk like him get to me…_

_-----_

"What a long day, I'm just glad that it's finally over." Akane said to Ranma.

"Yeah, you can say that again." Ranma said.

Akane and Ranma were lowly making their way off school property as if a friend of theirs could easily catch up to them before they started walking home together at their normal pace.

"I take it that Ranko isn't walking home with us?" Akane asked, noticing that Ranma's twin sister wasn't with them.

"That's a dumb question; when does she ever walk home with us? She has her cheerleading practice remember?" Ranma replied as he began to walk ahead.

"Well excuse men," Akane shot back, feeling a little bit offended by Ranma's response.

"So it turns out that Kikyo's-look-alike is in my religion class." Ranma started, quickly changing the subject.

"Oh yeah? What _do_ you think about Kagome?" Akane asked.

Ranma shrugged. "Well I don't really know her, but she seems cool. I'm more concerned of what InuYasha thinks of her, if he came did come across her that is." He responded as he jumped up on a fence and continued to walk on the higher platform. _He did seemed rather annoyed when I mentioned her during lunch today… _Ranma added quietly to himself.

Akane was about to say something but then paused for a moment. She had almost forgotten all about InuYasha's situation with Kikyo. "Poor guy, well he must've heard about her now… was he in school today?"

"Well," Ranma scratched his cheek, "I did see him today during with the guys and mentioned to him about Kagome. But he didn't seem to 'thrilled' about that and practically stormed off; my guess that he probably skipped the rest of school."

"Oh, what makes you say that?"

"Well after he practically stormed off, he never came back. And from my years of knowing him- when he's angry or just moody, he usually skips."

"For once I don't blame him." Akane started, "I never really knew Kikyo and rarely do I ever talk to InuYasha but from what I could tell, they seemed really close-,"

"_Nihao_ Ranma!!!" called a familiar voice with a Chinese accent.

"Oh no," Ranma said as he slowly turned around, "Shampoo-,"

Before Ranma could finish his sentence, Shampoo was already in Ranma's arms, causing him to lose his balance and fall off the fence he was walking on.

"Did you enjoy my ramen soup?" Shampoo asked, pressing up against him, causing Ranma to blush.

"I-it was pretty good…" Ranma replied, blushing uncontrollably.

Shampoo smiled as she got up from Ranma, ignoring the now irritated Akane. "Future wife is doing a better job feeding future husband, unlike someone Shampoo could mention," she said now looking at Akane.

"Hey, we feed Ranma!" Akane replied defensively to Shampoo, "Unless the food we feed you isn't good enough for you," she finished redirecting her attention to Ranma who was still on the ground.

Ranma quickly snapped out of it as he got up from the ground wiping the dirt off his pants. "Shampoo was not talking about Kasumi's cooking."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Akane demanded.

"She was talking about _your_ cooking! Your cooking is practically a death wish!" Ranma replied rudely to Akane.

Akane was about to say something and Ranma was ready to rebuke her until Shampoo butted into Akane and Ranma.

"Good to know Ranma agree with Shampoo. Akane's cooking is bad and her sister's cooking is probably not as good as Shampoo's cooking either." Shampoo said.

"Hey!" Akane said getting offended by Shampoo's remark.

"Now I wouldn't say Kasumi's cooking is terri-,"

"In any case," Shampoo was wearing a backpack as she dropped it on the ground and began to dig into it and then brought out three relatively large containers that seemed to have contained food in it. "Here," she said giving it to Ranma.

"What is this?" Ranma asked, confused.

"My thoughts exactly," Akane said with a hint of irritation.

"Like they say; the best to win man's heart is through their stomach." Shampoo said.

"You don't expect me to eat all this, do you?" Ranma said, still confused.

"No just for Ranma, also for Ranma and Akane's family too." Shampoo said.

Akane frowned; she knew that Shampoo wasn't just doing it out the goodness of her heart. Akane figured that there was probably a catch to it.

"Now do you promise to eat this and family too?" Shampoo asked looking into Ranma's eyes.

"Well… well…" Ranma trailed off.

"Good, Shampoo will see you later!" Shampoo said as she was beginning to make her way waving to Ranma. Within moments, she was out of sight.

Ranma and Akane were alone again. Here was a bit of an awkward silence between the two before Akane began to walk on ahead without a word to Ranma, angry.

"H-hey! Where are you going?" Ranma asked Akane still struggling with the containers Shampoo gave him.

"Where do you think? I'm going home." Akane replied bitterly still walking.

"Aren't you going to help me with these?"

"I don't see why I should."

"Hey, you're not deaf are you? Shampoo gave it for both your family and mine to eat."

"You might as well carry it; since I'm such a bad cook, my hands may contaminate it."

Ranma lowered his eyelids, "you're probably right about that."

Akane gritted her teeth as she stopped walking picked up a rock closest to her feet and chucked it at Ranma.

Ranma without missing a beat dodged the rock without causing any of the containers to drop. As a response, he stuck out his tongue. "For a macho chick who throws like a _guy_, you sure have horrible aim!"

Akane immediately chucked another rock and this time, it hit Ranma diretly on the forehead causing for Ranma to his balance and accidently drop one of the containers causing some of the ramen to fall out of the container.

"That's your portion!" Ranma yells as his forehead went red from the rock that was thrown at him.

"Good, I didn't want any of it anyway!" Akane said as she was continued to walk on ahead, leaving Ranma behind.

Ranma watched Akane walk ahead, practically leaving him in the dust, _stupid Akane…_

_Stupid Ranma…_

_-----_

"Okay girls, great practice. I'll see you guys later, same place, and same time." Ranko said as she was just leaving the girl's change room.

"Bye Ranko!" the girls from the change room replied.

"Later guys," Ranko adjusted her backpack and flashed a peace sign to her teammates. She then began making her way down the halls to go home. "I cannot wait to be home." She said out loud to herself.

As she continued to walk down the halls and out the doors, she saw Nabiki walking from the other end of the halls. From the look on Nabiki's face, it was as if she wasn't expecting to see Ranko but Ranko didn't notice Nabiki's facial expression.

"Hey Nabiki, what are you still doing here? School ended almost two hours ago." Ranko said.

"I realized there was something I needed to do and besides, I forgot my textbook in my locker. Need to study for a quiz I have tomorrow." Nabiki replied.

"Oh… well do you want me to wait around or something so we can walk home together?" Ranko asked.

"Ranko," Nabiki said, "that's really nice of you but I wouldn't want to be a burden." Nabiki said, being dramatic. "You're probably exhausted from your gymnastics-,"

"Cheerleading,"

"Whatever, it may take a while so you might as well go on without me."

"Well… alright, I guess I'll see you at home then." Ranko said as she continued her way out of the school.

Nabiki just stood there as she brought out a bunch of photos of Ranko, half naked, sleeping, in her cheerleading out and some in her underwear. _If Ranko caught me with these, she would burn these almost instantly! Disappointing my poor customers for these pictures! _Nabiki shuddered from the thought of not being able to get her profit from her perverted customers. _Now then… _

Nabiki had figured to herself that since cheerleading practice, as well as another other girls sports team was out now, there would be peeping toms lingering around the hallways. Most of the time, she would come across Tatewaki Kuno, a perverted boy, considered Nabiki's age mate who happens to like Akane and Ranko. However, this time around, Nabiki was having trouble finding him today.

"So much for earning some money today… I was hoping to earn more than expected. I've been lingering around the school for almost an hour. I suppose I should be happy for selling a couple today but Kuno is my number one customer." Nabiki just stood there for a moment, contemplating on what she should do now. "Might as well head on home, I guess." She decided.

Nabiki put away her photos of Ranko into her backpack and started to make her way out of the school. As she was walking, she was happened to come across the Furinkan school news department office where students and overheard two students talking. It sounded as if they had an issue.

"How are we supposed to give our student body something interesting for them to read?" One student wearing glasses said. "We need something that will give _The Source _a big boom!"

"But it's only October, nothing _big _has happened yet," another student with brunette hair said.

"Well if we don't come up with a story that the student body wants to ready, we might as well kiss our position of chief staff for the Furinkan news team goodbye!"

"Sounds like you guys are in an epidemic." Nabiki said, entering the office.

"Hey, this area is only for staff!" The student with the glasses said.

"Slow your roll, toots. I may have a story for you guys that are going to have the school talking even more than they already are." Nabiki said looking at her nails, casually.

"What are you talking about?" The brunette asked.

"Well, for a small fee," Nabiki trailed.

"Forget it, get out!" The student with the glasses said.

Nabiki shrugged, "I tried, you might as well pack your stuff and kiss your position as chief editors' goodbye and find other ways to raise your pathetic social status in this school."

"Hey wait," the brunette said as he turned to the student with the glasses. "It wouldn't hurt to hear what she has to offer."

"Hojo, no. What if she gives us a load of bull?" The guy with the glasses replied.

"That load of bull is your one way ticket to saving your assess. Trust me on this, you will not be sorry." Nabiki said with her arms extended out.

"Come on Ota," Hojo said, "we having nothing and we need a story tomorrow."

The boy with the glasses named Ota rolled his eyes as he let out and exasperated sigh as he began digging into his wallet. "How much?"

Nabiki extended her hand, "Fifteen hundred yen,"

"Fifteen hundred?!"

"Each," Nabiki said, redirecting her attention to Hojo expecting him to take out his wallet as well.

"No way," Ota said.

"Look, do you want a story or not?"

Ota gave Hojo a look before they both dug into their wallet to see what they could find. They both took our fifteen hundred from their wallets and gave it to Nabiki.

"Okay, so give us a story." Ota said.

Nabiki smiled to herself as she counted the money before she put it in her pocket. "Have you heard of Kikyo's-look-alike?"

* * *

**End Chapter**

* * *

_**Author's Note:**__** Hey everyone! I just want to make it very clear that the story takes place in Japan. However because I am not aware how their culture functions, as you continue to read this story, you will notice that this story will seem as though it takes place in a Western society; that is my intention. I'll try and keep to Japanese as well as other cultures within the story. Thank you and hope you enjoy reading the rest of my chapters!**_


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